Ryan Moore / AP

Mississippi players celebrate with the Magnolia Bowl trophy after their 25-23 victory over LSU on Saturday.

Miles said he suggested to assistant coaches that they call a run play at that point, but allowed a pass play to be signaled in. Jefferson completed a 7-yard pass to Stevan Ridley with 26 seconds left and Miles said he thought he heard timeout being called.

But the referees never got the message and 17 seconds ticked off the clock before coaches realized what was happening, leaving LSU with fourth and 26 at the Ole Miss 48 with 9 seconds left.

“The clock ran down, timeouts were being called verbally and I didn’t relate that to the official apparently and that was the mistake,” Miles said.

The team was going for the end zone on the last pass play, he said, and when Jefferson found Toliver in traffic at the 6 with a second left, the team was unprepared. Rather than run the field goal unit on field while there appeared to be confusion with the chain gang, Jordan tried to get the team lined up to spike the ball but never got the play off.

“I know there was a lot of confusion on the sideline,” said Jefferson, who rallied the Tigers with 120 yards passing and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. “Nobody knew what to do.”

Ole Miss fans rushed the field and celebrated with the Rebels while several LSU players dropped their helmets to the field in dismay.

Despite all the confusion, Vaughn said the Ole Miss defense knew exactly what was going on as the Tigers foundered making a final decision.

“You have to have a plan,” Vaughn said. “I’m looking at the ref waiting for him to call the play. As soon as I hear the whistle and the clock went to zero, I threw my helmet and ran off. It felt good to beat LSU.”

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