Ole Miss gave up 38 first half points to FCS Southern Illinois

The FCS Salukis led Ole Miss by three at the half. Then, it all fell apart.

Ole Miss opened up the college football season with a convincing 47-27 win over Texas Tech last week in Houston. This week, they struggled for 30 minutes at home against the Southern Illinois Salukis, down 38-35 at halftime.

Sam Straub picked apart the Ole Miss defense, completing 19 of his 25 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. He also had one score on the ground.

The last time Ole Miss was upset by an FCS school, it was in 2010 — a 49-48 overtime thriller against Jacksonville State.

The first half itself was historic:

Obviously, Ole Miss didn’t have to worry about an upset, because...

In the second half, well, Ole Miss played like an SEC team playing an FCS team.

In the third quarter, Ole Miss was able to take a 42-38 lead on a good throw, and better catch from Ta’amu to A.J. Brown.

This was especially worthy of the Ole Miss nWo belt:

After that, Ole Miss didn’t look back. Southern Illinois would inch back with a field goal with five minutes to go in the quarter, making it a 42-41 game in the Rebels’ favor. But that would be as close as it was going to get.

Ole Miss answered quickly upon getting the ball, as Ta’amu found Braylon Sanders for a beautiful 55-yard reception, and a few plays later, found D.K. Metcalf for a touchdown to make it a 49-41 game.

In the fourth quarter, the Rebels scored four touchdowns. The first was a Straub pass intercepted Vernon Dasher, who returned it for 88 yards, to the house. After another touchdown, a fumble-six got the Rebs to 69. Nice.

Ole Miss ultimately won the game 76-41, but they still lost that first half, 38-35, to an FCS team.

That’s hard to do. Not even my own alma mater, Georgia State, did that against Kennesaw State in Atlanta’s Commuter Cup. Not that there’s a lot to brag about there either, though.