LSU to Ole Miss coach: Thanks for the assist!

OXFORD, Miss. -- Brent Schaeffer had come off the bench in relief of Seth Adams, and he was directing Ole Miss down the field with an array of runs and passes that reminded people just why this guy was once considered an elite recruit.

Suddenly, that LSU defense looked vulnerable, and so the students were going bananas, chanting Hotty Toddy and reaching for those flasks in their back pockets, or so it seemed.

Perhaps LSU should send Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron a Christmas card. (AP)

Now he was set up inside the LSU 10.

And then it was time for a .... change of quarterbacks?

"Brent was a little rattled," said Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron. "He hadn't been in there in a while."

You know how Florida used to let its passer (Chris Leak) take the team down the field, then insert its runner (Tim Tebow) to scramble into the end zone? This was the exact same strategy, except opposite. Orgeron replaced his breath-taking scrambler with a below-average passer in the red zone because he was supposedly "rattled" from all that moving-the-chains business. And the stroke of genius resulted in an interception from Adams just before the half that killed the Rebels' potential game-tying drive, not to mention any momentum they were enjoying.

So what does it all mean?

It means Coach O is officially more baffling than Les Miles.

That's not surprising, really.

But it also means LSU will still be No. 1 when the new polls are released Sunday, thanks to the eventual 41-24 win that the brief removal of Schaeffer helped spark. The Tigers used a fairly balanced attack of rushes (40 carries for 228 yards) and passes (25 throws for 168 yards) -- plus a 98-yard kickoff return from Trindon Holliday -- to ultimately cruise while putting the finishing touches on what must've felt like a perfect Saturday for LSU fans everywhere.

And it was perfect, wasn't it?

First, Tennessee came from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Vanderbilt and remain in control of its own destiny in the SEC's Eastern Division. That's good for LSU, if you didn't know, because as long as the Vols are on their way to the SEC Championship Game, that means Georgia is not. And it's probably better for the Tigers to stay away from the red-hot Bulldogs, or at least that's what I gathered from the reaction of LSU athletic director Skip Bertman, who was noticeably excited here in the press box when he heard the Vols had stormed back and won.