Why LSU's win over Ole Miss in Death Valley is a bad omen for the SEC
Entering Week 9 of the college football season, the SEC was flying high, holding four of the top five spots in the AP poll.
Coming out of Week 9, there is now cause for concern.
Ole Miss went into Death Valley with an undefeated record and very real national title aspirations. But as LSU head coach Les Miles has said before, "Death Valley (is) where dreams go to die."
The margin in the weekend's marquee matchup was never more than one score, and even though they trailed for much of it, LSU's head coach never doubted his team's approach.
"If we can continue to run the football, we'll like the ending," Miles told ESPN's Heather Cox with his team trailing 7-3 at halftime.
And run the ball they did. The Tigers churned out 264 rushing yards on the night, with 113 of them coming from star freshman running back Leonard Fournette.
The win improves LSU's record to 46-4 in home night games under Miles. No team has won more home nights games since Miles came to Baton Rouge in 2005.
With a chance to at least tie the game late, Ole Miss made a mess of their final drive, and may have delivered a significant blow to the SEC's playoff chances in the process.
The concern within SEC circles is that the West is so deep that it could beat itself up to the point that the conference yields a two-loss champion. In that event, the selection committee could elect to look elsewhere when deciding the four teams that will do battle in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
Next week, the Tigers could potentially deliver another blow to an SEC rival when they host fourth-ranked Alabama. That hit would also be felt by the conference as a whole.
But LSU can only do right by LSU, it's not responsible for the well-being of the conference.
Saturday's win was especially significant for Miles, whose mother, Martha, passed away Friday night.
Miles was asked after the game if he could feel his mother with him on this night.
"She was there a bunch to be honest with you," Miles said.