BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Ulysses Bentley IV has played sparingly this season, essentially falling to third team behind Henry Parrish Jr. and Matt Jones.
With Jones out after suffering an injury late in last week’s win at South Carolina, Bentley saw his role increase Saturday at LSU.
He made the most of it.
Bentley rushed 11 times for 107 yards and a touchdown — a 50-yard fourth-down scamper that gave Ole Miss a 10-0 lead — in the Rebels’ 29-26 overtime loss at Tiger Stadium.
“It was a great job of Bentley stepping up,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “He had a really good game, played really well.”
Bentley added one catch for five yards.
First-quarter nightmare: Ole Miss scored a field goal on the first play of the second quarter, but the opening 15 minutes was a stanza the Rebels would likely just as soon forget.
On Ole Miss’ second play from scrimmage, Nate Buelow jumped early, making it second-and-15. Seconds later, Tre Harris dropped a sure touchdown throw on a post route.
On the Rebels’ second possession, a Micah Pettus holding call thwarted a drive and forced a 32-yard field goal attempt from Caden Davis. Davis missed with 6:54 left, keeping the game scoreless.
Ole Miss immediately created another scoring opportunity. Suntarine Perkins got his hand on a Garrett Nussmeier pass, sending the football floating into the air. Pooh Paul batted the ball twice in the air before Jamarious Brown ultimately came down with the interception. Brown returned the pick 10 yards to the LSU 13-yard-line.
However, Ole Miss couldn’t take advantage. On fourth-and-1 from the 4, Henry Parrish Jr. was stopped for no gain, giving LSU the ball back with 4:45 left in the quarter.
Captains: Ole Miss’ captains Saturday were wide receiver Tre Harris, tight end Caden Prieskorn and defensive tackle JJ Pegues. …Safety Louis Moore returned to action Saturday after missing the last two games. …
Miscellaneous: LSU won the toss, elected to take the opening kickoff. …Zxavian Harris and Suntarine Perkins drew starts on the Ole Miss defensive line, though usual starters JJ Pegues and Princely Umanmielen entered the game on LSU’s second offensive possession. …Offensive guard Nate Kalepo was helped off the field with 5:37 left in the third quarter. He was taken to the locker room. …Saturday’s attendance at Tiger Stadium was 102,212.
