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Snead, defense lead Ole Miss past LSU

Nov 23, 2008 - 2:14 AM BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- Louisiana State learned that falling behind against a conference foe is a bit different than spotting a Sun Belt Conference opponent a big lead.

Jevan Snead threw a pair of touchdowns and Mississippi upset 18th-ranked LSU, 31-13, to snap a six-game losing streak against its SEC rival.

Snead completed 16-of-25 passes for 274 yards and Mike Wallace pulled in six catches for 119 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Rebels jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead.

"It's a great feeling," Snead said. "It's exciting to be able to come on the road to such a great place and play such a great team and be able to pull off a victory."

"I'm really proud of our team," Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. "I always love coming down here, I love this atmosphere. It is big-time football and I always enjoy playing down here and coaching here. To see the players and the joy on their faces, to me, that is why you are in it."

The Rebels (7-4, 4-3 SEC West) also got rushing scores from Markeith Summers and Brandon Bolden and used a suffocating defense to smother any hope the Tigers had of a second consecutive comeback win.

"I thought our opponent played extremely well," LSU coach Les Miles said. "Their quarterback was again an on-fire quarterback in Tiger Stadium.

"Hats off to them. We knew they were pretty good on defense. I'm surprised at how well they threw the football on offense."

Led by quarterback Jarrett Lee, LSU (7-4, 3-4) overcame a 28-point deficit against Troy last week to escape with a 40-31 win.

Lee and the Tigers were not as fortunate against the Rebels. The redshirt freshman completed just 4-of-11 passes for 49 yards before leaving the game late in the second quarter with a right leg injury after Peria Jerry took him down following a completed pass.

By that point, Ole Miss had already raced to a 21-3 lead.

Snead and Wallace capped off an impressive eight-play, 76-yard drive with a 34-yard strike to open the game and put the Rebels ahead, 7-0.

"We knew how good they were, but Jevan Snead came to play today," Nutt said. "He really had a breakout game and was so accurate. He was hitting some passes that were awesome."

Colt David got LSU on the board with a 46-yard field goal, but Bolden found the end zone from 3 yards out on the ensuing possession and Snead found Wallace again 3:25 later, this time on a 24-yard pass to extend the lead to 21-3.

Bolden's touchdown was set up when Jason Cook connected with Kendrick Lewis on a 33-yard pass off a fake punt on 4th-and-four.

"They beat us in all three phases," Miles said. "That fake punt really got us. Our defense was playing extremely well against the run and really good against the pass for a stretch, and they hit that fake punt. Certainly, we were unable to answer."

Freshman Jordan Jefferson came on for Lee and led the Tigers on their only touchdown drive of the afternoon, finding Terrance Toliver on a 9-yard score to close the first-half scoring.

David kicked another field goal on the first possession of the second half to pull the Tigers within 21-13, but the Ole Miss, which limited LSU to 214 yards of total offense and just 36 rushing yards on 29 carries, took over from there.

"We were really excited all week coming into this game," Lewis said. "Our practices were really intense all week long. We knew that LSU was coming out strong to protect their house. We just made really great plays and came out with a victory."

Summers took an end around into the end zone from 13 yards to push Ole Miss' lead to 28-13 midway through the third quarter, and Joshua Shene added a 19-yard field goal to account for the final margin.

LSU registered just two first downs after the opening drive of the third quarter and Jefferson was sacked by Ben Meadows on 4th-and-23 with 8:06 left in the fourth to seal the win for Ole Miss.

"It was a very exciting moment for our team," Jerry said. "We've been working hard and we feel that we deserve this. We prepared all week to play LSU and worked hard in practice. All the hard work paid off."

The victory put the Rebels, who last beat the Tigers in Baton Rouge in 2001, alone in second place in the SEC West.