Dayes captain LSU by Joey Martin - posted Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 @ 10:13 am  E-mail Story |  Print Story  As the LSU band prepared to play the National Anthem prior to LSU's contest with Ole Miss Saturday, Daryl Daye turned to look at his dad on the LSU sidelines and knew where the former Tiger standout was at that time. "I looked at him and he was locked in back in time," Daryl said. "I looked at him and said, 'Hey.' He kind of came to his senses. I said, 'You know you ain't playing today?' He told me, 'I was just thinking about that.' I said, 'Like I didn't know that.' He was just staring out there with that assassin look ready to hit somebody. But it was good for him and so important for me to be there with him, especially with all the family there. It was a once in a lifetime deal for a lot of them, and it's something we never take for granted." Donnie and Daryl Daye and Chad Jones were honorary captains for the LSU-Ole Miss football game in LSU's final home game Saturday. Donnie was a member of the 1958 LSU national championship team. Daryl walked on at LSU and eventually earned a scholarship as a linebacker. He also served as a graduate assistant coach to Bill Arnsparger. The two were on the field in 2008 when the 1958 team was honored. "It was a tremendous blessing to be back down there," Daryl said. "I could see the shine in big Donnie's eyes." An 89-yard punt return by Odell Beckham sparked a fourth-quarter comeback by the eighth-ranked LSU football team in a 41-35 thriller over Ole Miss. Beckham's punt returnbrought back memories of Billy Cannon's 1959 Halloween night punt return of the same distance against the Rebels with a dazzling run that ended with a game-tying touchdown. Donnie, who was voted Best-ever Athlete in Concordia Parish in a poll by the Sentinel in 2009, was a junior on the 1959 LSU football team. At Ferriday High and LSU, Donnie totaled 80 wins, six losses, a tie, four high school state championships, one national championship and a No. 3 national ranking. Jeremy Hill scored his third touchdown with 15 seconds remaining that gave LSU its margin of victory. "I knew if we didn't win this game everybody was going to blame us," Daryl joked. "But we won the game, so maybe we brought them some luck." Daryl said he could see that LSU was flat during warm-ups. "I've been coaching long enough and watching players getting ready to see they looked flat," Daryl said. "I haven't seen this team a lot in pre-game, but their didn't seem to be any kind of tempo during warm-ups. And the crowd was not in it early. They are kind of spoiled because they've been playing for a national championship the last few years and now it appears to be a big bowl game, which is a big deal. You don't have to look back too far to see how big a deal that really is." Daye led Missouri Southern to a 6-5 record this year in his first year as head coach in Springfield. It's the second winning season for Missouri Southern in 17 years. Daye was a runner-up as Coach of the Year in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association this year. Missouri Western head coach Jerry Partridge was named Coach of the Year. Missouri Western defeated Minnesota-Duluth in the first round of the Division II playoffs. Missouri Western is the No. 3 seed in Division II. Its only loss was to Missouri Southern, 31-30 during the regular season. "I thought we had a good year, especially considering we came in two weeks prior to signing day," Daye said. "When we got there, we had 104 on the roster. We ended up with 35. That was the same thing we had to do at Nicholls State. We moved a wide receiver to running back and another receiver to quarterback. But it was great for our seniors to play in games that had a lot of meaning. It took a great effort from the coaches and players to have a winning season. Now that is something we can build on.. We've still got a long way to go, but we're going to get there."