Ole Miss Beats Louisiana-Lafayette 55-20 Behind a Big Day for A.J. Brown and Jordan Ta’amu

Ole Miss scored on their first five series to take a 35-10 lead over Louisiana-Lafayette and coasted to a 50-22 victory in their last non-conference game of the season. Quarterback Jordan Ta’amu threw for three touchdowns and ran for a pair in that five drive stretch to build on his SEC Offensive Player of the Week performance last week at Kentucky.

The win moves the Rebels to 5-5 on the year and they can clinch bowl eligibility with a win in either of their last two games would surpass most observers’ expectations entering the season.

Not that much was gleaned from this game for Ole Miss as ULL entered the game with one of the nation’s worst defenses and lived up to expectations. Ta’amu completed his first nine pass attempts for 152 yards and, by the time of his first incompletion, Ole Miss had a 21-0 lead. Ta’amu would go onto hit his next seven attempts and went to the locker room at halftime with 321 passing yards on an 80 percent completion percentage.

A.J. Brown will likely continue to lead the SEC in most receiving categories after he hauled in 14 catches for 185 yards and two touchdowns. The 14 catches ties Laquon Treadwell for the most in single game history at Ole Miss and the sophomore receiver from Starkville, Miss. sat much of the fourth quarter after the Ole Miss offense pulled the starters.

The ULL offense played respectably, putting up 427 yards including 228 rushing yards on 31 attempts, but so much of the game was played in garbage time and the Cajuns did not have enough of a spark or force enough turnovers to get back into the game.

Ole Miss hosts Texas A&M next week before closing out the season on a short week at Mississippi State while Louisiana-Lafayette needs to beat both Georgia Southern and Appalachian State to gain bowl eligibility.