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The University of Mississippi Athletics
FRIDAY FLASHBACK: Ole Miss - LSU 1986
11/19/2010 | Football
Nov. 19, 2010
FRIDAY FLASHBACK rewinds to some of the memorable Ole Miss games from this week's all-time series. This week features the Rebels' upset win over LSU in Baton Rouge in 1986.
Ole Miss Realizes Dream
Butch John, The Clarion-Legder
BATON ROUGE, La. -- For Ole Miss, the dreams of 365 days a year came down to 9 seconds, 30 yards and the left foot of LSU kicker David Browndyke. And then they came true.
Rebels 21, No. 12 LSU Tigers 19 - but only as Browndyke's 30-yard field goal attempt sailed a couple of feet outside the left upright with 9 seconds to play. A measure of inches to LSU, a measure of miles for a Rebel team on the upswing for the first time since John Vaught's 1970 retirement.
"They were complaining before the game the rivalry wasn't like it used to be," said senior free safety Jeff Noblin. "I guess it's back to what it used to be now. What a great feeling."
"I've never been in a rivalry like this," said linebacker Jeff Herrod, who joined his Rebel teammates in a post-game curtain call before the Ole Miss portion of the 77,758 in Tiger Stadium Saturday afternoon. "Beating LSU is a dream come true. I'll remember this as long as I live."
It's safe to say Herrod has seldom been a part of a game like this; Ole miss jumped out to a 21-9 halftime lead, then the defense held to the end, literally, for a fourth straight victory a 6-2-1 record and a 3-1 mark in the Southeastern Conference - tied for seconds with LSU, among others.
In his four seasons at Ole Miss, Billy Brewer, coaching a football team that hadn't won here since 1968, certainly hadn't experienced anything like it. "I don't believe I've ever had a bigger win than this one in how it was done," Brewer said. "Defeating a 12th ranked team in the country in Tiger Stadium, it's quite an accomplishment for our program."
And LSU's Browndyke, whose missed attempt cost him a school record fifth field goal and wasted a 53-yard march - all catches by marvelous split end Wendell Davis - in the final 59 seconds. Call it a day in the life of a kicker, the freshman said. "I wasn't too nervous," he said. "I just didn't kick it well. It slid off of my foot a little. I tried to kick it like a normal kick...I felt real good about my performance before the kick." "That play didn't lose the football game," said LSU coach Bill Arnsparger, whose club is 5-2 overall. "You can look at 50 or 60 other plays."
Many were in the first half. It didn't appear likely the game would come down to the last seconds - or a fourth quarter goal-line stand led by strong safety Howard Moss. LSU led 6-0 at the 6:21 of the first quarter on two field goals but did little else the rest of the half. Ole Miss, which accumulated 260 yards of its game total 316 in the first half of offense all year, rode drives of 75, 83 and 80 yards for the 12-point halftime lead.
"The only time I ever cried on the field before was when I lost a heartbreaker," said Ole Miss senior safety Jeff Noblin. "This is the best in all my football career. It hasn't sunk in yet." "I can't believe it," said senior defensive tackle Mike Fitzsimmons, his eyes red with post-game tears.
Ole Miss has a 6-2-1 record and its first winning season since 1975. The Rebels are a game behind Alabama in the race for the Sugar Bowl. The Ole Miss defense put up a fourth-quarter goal-line stand inches from the end zone. It was a key to the victory. Down 21-16, the Tigers had to settle for a field goal to leave the score at 21-19. "I watched a lot of goal-line stands in my time at Ole Miss," said athletic director Warner Alford, "and that's the greatest goal-line stand I think I ever saw at Ole Miss. I maybe haven't seen all of them, but I've seen a lot."
After that, the game came down to the final 14 seconds when LSU, facing third-and-one decided to kick a field goal. "When he lined up for that field goal," said Alford, "I turned to my son John and I said, `I just don't think I can understand another one of these,' where we have the victory and have it pulled out from us right at the last."
Junior flanker J.R. Ambrose, who scored the game's first touchdown on a 23-yard run up the sideline in the first quarter, couldn't watch either. "I had my head turned," he said, "I hate this kind of game. Too much pressure for me. I had my head turned and went by the team's and crowd reaction. When they started jumping up and down, I started jumping up and down."