BATON ROUGE, La. — Three weeks ago, Ole Miss’ defense held on for a big win over Kentucky, vaulting the Rebels into the top 10 of the national rankings.

Since then, the Rebels’ defense has bent and bowed in wins over Vanderbilt and Auburn.

On Saturday, Ole Miss’ defense broke.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels proved too much for Ole Miss to handle as the Tigers claimed a 45-20 win over the Rebels in front of 100,821 fans at Tiger Stadium.

Ole Miss led early, 17-3, but the Rebels’ lack of defensive depth became an issue in the second quarter and just worsened as day progressed. Safety AJ Finley left in the first quarter and didn’t return. Linebacker Troy Brown suffered another upper-body injury late in the second quarter and could not go in the second half.

Their absences were felt, both in terms of talent and depth. Ole Miss’ lack of both at linebacker was exposed all afternoon. The Rebels couldn’t contain Daniels, and when they resorted to blitz packages in an attempt to hurry the Arizona State transfer, they more often than not failed to create pressure.

A source close to the LSU program said earlier this week the Tigers felt their speed on the edges would create problems for the Rebels’ secondary. That proved to be somewhat prophetic. LSU’s receivers didn’t take the top off the Rebels’ defense, but Ole Miss’ defenders struggled with the Tigers’ speed on the edges.

Starting in the second quarter, the Rebels really had no answer for LSU. That put the onus on the offense, and for the first time this season, that unit couldn’t answer the bell.

Ole Miss scored on its first three drives Saturday, including Jonathan Cruz’s field goal on the first play of the second quarter. After that, the Rebels managed just a field goal in the rest of the second quarter and all of the third. Jaxson Dart was intercepted in the end zone by LSU’s Joe Foucha, killing what Ole Miss hoped would be a go-ahead drive.

Once LSU got up two scores — as it did by driving 80 yards on 10 plays after the Foucha interception — the Tigers’ defense pinned its proverbial ears back and dominated. Throw in a crowd smelling blood and it was more than the Rebels could handle.

LSU finished with 500 yards of offense. The Tigers had 35 first downs. Asked how concerned he is about the Rebels’ defense, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin didn’t mince words.

“That would be as high as you can be,” Kiffin said. “We had a run of playing good defense early on but haven’t here the last two weeks. …You could kind of see this coming off of last week if we didn’t improve in tackling. Here’s another big rushing game against us.”

Ole Miss safety Tysheem Johnson said it’s not just about tackling, which has sort of emerged as a talking point in recent weeks.

“We obviously have to do a better job tackling, but it’s overall as a defense,” Johnson said. “It’s everything. We’ve got to do better.”

This was always the unknown for Ole Miss. How good were the Rebels? No one could truly be certain. The schedule was backloaded. That wasn’t debatable. Kentucky is good, but in the Rebels’ first seven games, the Wildcats were the only real challenge.

This will be Brian Kelly’s worst LSU team, but winning in Baton Rouge — something Ole Miss hasn’t done since 2008 — is always a challenge. Further, the Tigers believed all week they’d discovered something last week in a win at Florida. Even down 17-3, the Tigers never cowered Saturday. They played with confidence.

Turns out it was for good reason.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, has no time to feel sorry for itself. The schedule gets no easier from here. Ole Miss travels to Texas A&M next Saturday night. After a weekend off, the Rebels play host to No. 6 Alabama before traveling to Arkansas and then entertaining No. 24 Mississippi State on Thanksgiving night.

At least three of those teams — Texas A&M, Alabama and Arkansas — have mobile quarterbacks who can hurt defenses with their feet. Those same three teams have bruising running backs. Mississippi State is a proficient passing attack.

“It’s one loss,” Kiffin said. “Even though the score was lopsided at the end, it’s still one loss. You don’t get two losses at the end. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Can it be fixed? Johnson was asked.

“Yes,” he said.

He didn’t elaborate.

Was that because it can be fixed or was that because, in the moment, he couldn’t articulate how.

As the Rebels enter the final third of the season, that answer — or lack thereof — will determine whether Saturday was just a bad night for the visitors to Death Valley or a harbinger of things to come.