BATON ROUGE — There wasn’t really any panic in his voice, more like a realization for LSU head coach Brian Kelly at halftime against Ole Miss on Saturday.

“We’re in the middle a shootout here,” he told radio listeners with the Tigers trailing the Rebels 20-17. “We’ve got to tighten up some things up defensively.”

Tightening up would have been useful in a game that was turning into an offensive circus.

Or you could remove all doubt and totally shut down one of the Southeastern Conference’s most feared offenses to turn that shootout into a runaway.

LSU went back out to dominate previously unbeaten and No. 7-ranked Ole Miss, holding the Rebels scoreless in the second half for a 45-20 victory, which will stand for now as Kelly’s signature win in his first season with the Tigers.

“We have found our rhythm,” said LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels who threw for two touchdowns and ran for three more. “The biggest thing is trust. I am going to give them the ball where where they can go get it and make a play. They trust me to to put in the right spot.”

Or keep it, which the dual-threat Daniels did often against an Ole Miss alignment geared to stop the pass.

So the Tigers, left for dead in their home stadium two weeks ago after an embarrassing loss to Tennessee, also found themselves suddenly tied for the Southeastern Conference West lead at 6-2, 4-1.

“That’s the furthest thing from my mind,” said Kelly, whose team will have a week off before hosting Alabama. “I’m just so excited for our players. They jumped in 100 percent with a whole new way of doing things for me.

“I’m just pleased to see they’re seeing the positive results because of it.”

The comeback started well before the second half as the Tigers overcame a double-digit deficit (17-3) for the third time in their four conference wins.

Ole Miss (7-1, 3-1), in fact, made its first two offensive possessions look ridiculously easy and kicked a field goal on the first play of the second quarter for a 17-3 lead.

But the Tigers, who finished with exactly 500 yards of offense, outscored the Rebels 42-3 for the remainder of the game, 28-zip in the second half.

“Our best players played their best and we needed that,” Kelly said. “Our defense played great in the second half against a very potent offense.

“We got stronger; we exerted our will against against our opponent, which is part of what we’re building here.

“The offensive line was outstanding and put the game away at the end.”

Daniels threw for 248 yards with touchdowns to Mason Taylor and Jaray Jenkins and ran for another 121 with scoring runs of 3, 11 and 17 yards.

“We’re better because you can see what happens when he touches the football,” Kelly said of Daniels. “He’s electric.

“The structure of their defense is three down (linemen) with six defensive backs. When they chose the keep them back in coverage … he was in zone read where he could throw it or run it. He was on his game tonight.

If the LSU defense made any adjustments after early struggles, Kelly wasn’t revealing them.

“That’s a secret,” he smiled. “I just think we got a little more aggressive. Sometimes we tend to cover up some things that we feel like our are weaknesses and they aren’t really that weak. We kind of said, ‘Let’s go play.’ Probably a bit more aggressive in the second half, just let the guys play.”

The “shootout” tone ended — and the rout was on — midway through the third quarter with the Tigers leading 24-20, but with Ole Miss threatening to retake the lead on second-and-goal from the LSU 9-yard line.

Linebacker Micah Baskerville pressured Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, who threw an interception in the end zone to Joe Foucha.

Momentum shifted 180 degrees, the budding shootout was averted.

“Probably the biggest play of the game,” Kelly said, “because they were threatening to score.”

Instead, LSU drove 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by Daniels 11-yard run for a 31-20 lead.

“That was the first time we felt like we got any extension in the game,” Kelly said. “That was the one play in the game that gave us the ability to pull away from them a little bit, so that was a huge play.”