Somewhere along midway through the third quarter LSU head coach Ed Orgeron must have stared up at the “sissy blue” skies Ole Miss ordered up for the occasion and wondered what in the world he had gotten himself into.

I agreed to do what!?

Coach this team the rest of the season!?

Get me home to LaRose — and double meat on that cheeseburger!

Most of the breaks were going with the Tigers, including most of the flags.

But the Tigers, seemingly helpless on both sides of the ball, were getting run out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

It had to be frustrating for Coach O, who has a habit of coming up with the unexpected effort when you least expect it.

But reconsider his decision to stick with this team to the bitter end?

Never,” Orgeron said after the 31-17 loss to the Rebels “Never. Not even a thought.”

OK. That’s settled. Presumably it’s still in his hands.

An open date, which LSU has this week before playing Alabama, has long been known as the worst enemy of hot-seat coaches. History is vague about whether that applies to lame-duck coaches.

But if the powers that be will fire you the day after an mega-upset of Florida — or announce it to the public and team, at least — then what might they do after something like what happened Saturday in Oxford.

For one thing, it was far worse than the final score.

LSU couldn’t run, couldn’t protect, couldn’t get anybody open and defensively looked virtually helpless against the diabolical play-calling of Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. It didn’t help that LSU’s tackling, which had made so much progress in recent weeks, had scary flashbacks to the Rose Bowl and UCLA in the season opener.

True, Orgeron might have gotten lame duck-itis on the failed fourth-down, goal-line gamble in the first quarter.

With a chance to take control with a 14-0 lead and — for Orgeron at least — nothing to lose, it was absolutely the right call.

The play call left a little to be desired and the execution stunk.

But that’s the kind of thing you can do without a thought as a lame duck.

“We knew we were going to have to score a lot of points against that offense,” Orgeron said.

Even if LSU had converted for a 14-0 lead or taken the field goal there, it seemed inevitable that eventually Kiffin was going to crank up his play toys and get his magic-carpet clipboard flying.

Where that previously porous Ole Miss defense came from is anybody’s guess.

Most likely it found an LSU offense to its liking.

But after failing on the fourth-down gamble, the Tigers never seriously again threatened until the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter at 31-7.

LSU trailed 17-7 at the half and got the ball to start the third quarter. The Tigers’ first five drives of the second were three three-and-outs and two lost fumbles.

That’s no way to rally around your fallen head coach.

The same LSU offense that ran for 321 yards against Florida last week managed 77 against the Rebels, who evidently studied that counter-trap on tape. The same LSU defense that held the Gators to 138 rushing yards, gave up 266 to Ole Miss, many in big chunks after olé tackle attempts.

“That’s the story of the game,” Orgeron said of the discrepancy.

Pay no attention to the fourth quarter, which couldn’t even make Kiffin attempt a fourth-down gamble against his old friend Orgeron.

But Orgeron might have further complicated things by adding a dueling quarterback battle to his peace and well being over the rest of the season.

There shouldn’t be one, but it’s nothing that social media and talk radio can’t escalate into a full-blown controversy.

After starting 7-for-7 for 77 yards on LSU’s 90-yard textbook drive to open the game, Max Johnson was 6-for-14 thereafter for 75 yards, a pick and two lost fumbles.

Backup Garrett Nussmeier made some nice throws and got away with a few in going 7-for-12 for 103 yards in mop-up duty.

Meanwhile, given the state of affairs with the Tigers, a lot of LSU fans will have watched this game and wonder what Kiffin might look like in purple and gold and calling up some of those fun plays.

If it was an audition, he certainly passed.

And ran even better.

—

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com