BATON ROUGE, La. – Garrett Nussmeier’s college career has taught him patience, whether he’s waiting to lead LSU’s offense or enduring one of the worst performances of his career on Saturday night.

Nussmeier knows that if there is still time left, he still has a chance to change his fortunes – and that of his team. LSU’s defense gave Nussmeier one last drive to reach the end zone against No. 9 Ole Miss, and then a bonus chance in overtime to secure an improbable victory.

The quarterback took advantage of both as LSU secured its first and only lead when Nussmeier found Kyren Lacy in the end zone, sealing a 29-26 win and setting off an on-field rush at Tiger Stadium. Nussmeier, who replaced Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 NFL draft pick Jayden Daniels as LSU’s starting quarterback, completed just 22 of 51 passes — the third-highest number of attempts in team history — and was intercepted twice. But his late surge left the 13th-ranked Tigers undefeated in SEC play and alive in the College Football Playoff picture. LSU won its eighth straight home game against Ole Miss.

“I probably had one of the worst games of my career tonight,” said Nussmeier, who attempted 16 passes of 20 or more yards and completed only two of his first 14 before connecting on the final two. “The best thing about that is that I can learn from it, and we got the win. I’m looking forward to getting in the film room and fixing those things and correcting the mistakes. Hopefully this will be a huge growth moment for me.” “

Coach Brian Kelly isn’t just hoping Nussmeier grows after Saturday night’s win. He knows that the red-shirt junior has taken an important step in a match that caused a lot of frustration for more than three quarters.

“He’s grown more today than he’s ever been here,” Kelly said. “That was a growth game for him, and you might look at it differently, but as a coach, the growth he was able to show during that game and at the end will serve him well.”

LSU did not score on its first five drives and reached Ole Miss territory only once. Then, after a 75-yard touchdown drive, the Tigers had four consecutive possessions inside the Rebels’ 30-yard line, but that amounted to just three field goals and a missed field goal attempt.

“It would have been easier for us to be frustrated, those watching the game, but Garrett wasn’t frustrated, and what we saw at the end was why I thought it was a great growth game,” Kelly said. “He made the plays when he had to make them.”

As Lacy walked back from the south end zone after the winning touchdown, he and Nussmeier hugged around the 15-yard line. Nussmeier targeted Lacy a game-high 16 times, connecting on five of them for 111 yards.

He also found Aaron Anderson on fourth-and-5 for a 23-yard touchdown with 27 seconds left in regulation, ending another 75-yard scoring run.

“Nuss had a great game,” Lacy said. “He comes in every day, he doesn’t cut a corner in the weight room, he gets on my butt when I try to skip a rep. We have each other’s backs no matter what. … I love my brother .”

Nussmeier and Lacy wouldn’t have had the opportunity for heroics without a defense that redeemed itself after a historically poor performance at Ole Miss last year. LSU allowed 55 points and 706 yards in a loss to the Rebels, by far the most ever surrendered by a Tigers defense.

Although LSU has introduced a new scheme this season under coordinator Blake Baker, several of the same 2023 Tigers defensive backs and Ole Miss offensive stars — including quarterback Jaxson Dart and wide receiver Tre Harris — were on the field Saturday.

“We’ve been looking forward to this team,” said cornerback Zy Alexander, who intercepted a Dart pass early in the fourth quarter to thwart one of several promising Ole Miss drives. “Since we released the calendar, we have highlighted Ole Miss, so we know we would be ready for that game.”

After allowing 21 points in the fourth quarter last year, LSU didn’t surrender a touchdown in the second half. Led by Bradyn Swinson and Major Burns, the Tigers had six sacks, most of them under Kelly, and linebacker Whit Weeks had 18 tackles and a forced fumble.

“We didn’t say anything about last year, but we had that in mind for our defense,” Weeks said. “We knew we had to come here and play much better football, and that’s what we were able to do.”

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin complained that his team “should have won that game”, while Kelly felt his team was “always… one step behind”. But LSU, feeling like its season opener against USC was slipping away, prompting Kelly’s infamous table slam, made the biggest plays in the biggest moments.

“At the beginning of the year the preparation was excellent, but we didn’t see that reflected in the performances,” Kelly said. “They weren’t as sharp as I thought they would be. Now it’s starting to translate a little better.”