45,548 fans on a beautiful early November afternoon saw Ole Miss jump to a 17-0 first half lead thanks to the largesse of the Tigers, who contributed two fumbles and an inter­ception on their first three possessions. Late in the half, LSU finally got on the board on a 1y plunge by Hokie Gajan to culminate an 84y drive and cut the lead to 17-7 at the break.

LSU reversed the script at the start of the second half when LB Lyman White intercepted Rebel QB John Fourcade at the Ole Miss 17. However, the Tigers couldn't capitalize on the break. However, they did score the next time they had the ball, driving 80y, with most of it coming on QB David Woodley's 55y pass to WR Tracy Porter to the nine. Woodley's keeper from the five produced the touchdown to cut the margin to 17-14.

Near the end of the third quarter, John Adams' short 30y punt put the Rebels in busi­ness at the LSU 36. Eight plays later, Ole Miss led by ten again, 24-14.

Midway through the final quarter, the Tigers took over at their 20 after a 67y punt by Jim Miller, the nation's leader. Steve Ensminger, who alternated with Woodley through­out the season, took over at quarterback and led the Tigers to their 48. Steve then rolled left to es­cape the rush and fired on the run to Gajan, who raced down the left sideline. RB Jerry Mur­phree eliminated the last defender with a great block at the 20 to enable Hokie to continue to the end zone to cut the lead to 24-21 with 5:31 left. Gajan was so concerned that Mur­phree's block was illegal that he didn't celebrate his score. "I thought there might have been a yellow flag on the play. Murphree was deep on the play, and he came up behind the safety. The safety didn't know he was there. If Murphree had kept coming, he would have clipped him. But he stopped and made the block when he (the safety) turned around."

The Bandits came in and did their part, forcing a punt that traveled "only" 49y to Porter, who took it on the LSU 27 and returned 52y to the Rebel 21. But two markers were on the ground at the Ole Miss 25. Illegal block? No, illegal procedure on Ole Miss! "He punted the ball straight, but he didn't get it high," said Porter about his first college punt return. "When I caught the ball, a man was about 2y from me. I made a move on him and just ran until I went out of bounds. I wanted to score on the play."

Woodley took over again and called four straight running plays that made it third-and-goal at the four. Porter lined up at left halfback rather than wide receiver. David took the snap and moved to the right before pitching out to Porter who got a chop block from Gajan and raced into the end zone standing up to give LSU their first lead of the day. Don Barthel booted the all-important PAT, 28-24 with 2:29 to play.

But the thrills and chills weren't over. Fourcade wasn't about to go down without a fight. Starting from his 16, the Gretna LA native led a relentless drive deep into LSU territory. On 4th-and-8 from the LSU 48, he connected with Kinny Hooper out of the backfield to the nine to keep the drive alive. After an incompletion, Fourcade kept around right end to the three with 23 seconds remaining. Then he rolled left with several Tigers chasing him and tossed the ball to the back of the end zone. Four players, two from each side, went up for the pigskin and came down in a heap. Touchdown? Incompletion? Interception? The broad­casters couldn't say for a few seconds until CB Willie Teal jumped up holding the ball aloft with 0:14 on the clock.

Coach McClendon wiped the sweat off his face as he answered post-game questions. "We came up with the big plays at the right time. When we had them fourth and 7 at the end, I thought we had it then, but you have to give credit to Ole Miss. They played a super game."