Online Exclusive: Taming the tigers

A long-standing question about Ole Miss athletics is whether Mississippi State or LSU is the Rebels’ true rival.

It’s difficult to determine if there is a clear answer, but after sweeping LSU in the three major sporting events during the 2009-2010 athletic calendar a definitive answer is starting to emerge.

There is nothing more frustrating than losing to Mississippi State, but on the flip side, a win against the Bulldogs just does not compare to drumming the Tigers.

While interaction with the Louisiana bayou folk is not as common in Mississippi, and therefore less agitating than working side-by-side with State fans, losses to LSU cut just as deep.

Wins, however, carry special significance because of the life and death nature that accompanies the games.

After being ridiculed all preseason long, regardless of the sport, about inferior facilities, talent and coaches, Ole Miss fans are able to enjoy any moment when they can say they are better than LSU.

And Rebel fans can definitively say that after sweeping the Tigers in the three major sports — football, basketball and baseball.

With any rivalry, there are defining moments that fuel the animosity between the two teams. 

The Great Brew Race 

It’s no secret that students at both Ole Miss and LSU like to party. So naturally, this sparked another competition.

In 2007, beer was banned on the campus of the University of Mississippi. However, hard liquor was deemed acceptable.

This was obviously a ruse by the Ole Miss administration to help students out-party the Tigers.

LSU one-upped the Rebels this spring by proposing an on-campus brewery.

2003 SEC Championship chances gone 

In 2003, Eli Manning and Ole Miss had an opportunity to capture the Southeastern Conference West Title with a win against the Tigers.

But the nation’s best place kicker, Ole Miss’ Jonathan Nichols, missed two field goals that afternoon in a 17-14 loss to LSU.

Billy Cannon ruins Rebels’ national championship run

In 1959, the Rebels held a 3-0 lead late in a football game against the Tigers on Halloween night.

LSU’s Billy Cannon, who later spent time in prison for his involvement in a counterfeiting scheme, returned a punt 89 yards in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a 7-3 victory.

Ole Miss won every game that season, except for the LSU loss, including a rematch with the Tigers that the Rebels won 21-0 in the Sugar Bowl.

Billy Cannon is currently a dentist at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

“The night the clock stopped”

In 1972, the Rebels traveled to Death Valley and nearly pulled off an upset over the No. 6 LSU Tigers.

The Tigers trailed Ole Miss with four seconds remaining and attempted a lengthy pass down the field, but only three seconds elapsed, according to the game clock. The Tigers were left with time for a final play that resulted in the game-winning touchdown. 

The home-field clock management inspired a sign on the Louisiana state line that read: “You are now leaving Louisiana. Set your clocks back four seconds.”

The Ole Miss yearbook reported the score as Ole Miss — 16, LSU — 10 + 7.

Bianco spurns alma mater

Ole Miss head baseball coach Mike Bianco is an LSU alum and former catcher and team captain for the Tigers from 1988-1989.

After the Tigers fired Smoke Laval in 2006 after five season, the Tigers turned to Bianco to fill their vacancy.

Biacno declined the offer to coach LSU and has led the Rebels to three straight regional appearances.