By Thomas McKee
Media Relations Assistant
OXFORD, Miss. - While this season hasn't exactly gone according to plan for the Ole Miss Rebels, the team is still off to its best start since 2003 and has a chance to become bowl eligible for the second-straight year with a victory today.
"That is what I have been proud of the most - how hard (the players) have kept working in practice and their attitudes," Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. "It's not easy when people think that the season has been a disappointment. That is what has been the hardest thing. We still have a lot of football left and a good team - we just have to put it all together."
Ole Miss (6-3, 2-3 SEC), a team that played in a bowl game last season for the first time since the 2003 season - an AT&T Cotton Bowl victory over Texas Tech - has a chance to do it again. Standing in the way are the Tennessee Volunteers (5-4, 2-3 SEC) who are looking to play in the postseason for their third year in a row after two-straight Outback Bowl appearances.
The two teams square off today at 11 a.m. inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium with the contest airing on CBS.
Today's game also marks the return of Ed Orgeron, currently the associate head coach, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Tennessee, who spent three years as the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels (2005-2007). While at Ole Miss, Orgeron compiled a 10-25 record, including a 3-21 record in the SEC.
This will be the first time Orgeron has been on the same football field as the Rebels since their November 24, 2007 loss to Mississippi State - his final game at the helm.
"I'm sure (he will be extra fired up); that's natural for any of us," Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin said. "I think if you've been fired, if you ever went back to the place that you were at it's going to be a big deal to you, especially when you brought so many great players there and worked so hard, as we all know he does, to try to build that place right. It's a big deal for him."
Orgeron attracted many of Ole Miss' current players to Oxford, including Texas transfer Jevan Snead.
"I didn't have the opportunity to play under him," Snead said of Orgeron. "I was with the scout team the whole time, so I was trying to do the best I could to help out the defense. As far as Coach O goes, he was always good to me. He was one of the people that helped get me to Ole Miss, so I'm grateful for that."
The Rebels enter today's contest coming off a 38-14 home victory over FCS opponent Northern Arizona. Snead led the way for the Rebels as he completed 16-of-29 passes for 235 yards. He accounted for four touchdowns as he threw two and scored twice on the ground.
While Ole Miss' victory over the Lumberjacks, its sixth of the season but second against an FCS opponent, didn't count towards bowl eligibility, it was a nice victory to get the offense back on track.
"We really just kind of watered down our offense a little bit and went back to the basics of throwing, catching, blocking and running," Snead said. "We had a chance to get some different guys the ball and I think that was good for them and good for the whole offense."
The Rebels will need Dexter McCluster, who saw limited action against NAU, to have a big game on offense against the Vols. Before the Rebels' victory over the Lumberjacks, McCluster averaged 154.5 rushing yards and 231.5 all-purpose yards over a two-game span.
Meanwhile, the Volunteers arrive in Oxford fresh off a 56-28 victory over in-state rival Memphis. Quarterback Jonathan Crompton had a career-high game with 331 yards passing and five touchdowns to lead the Vols. It was Tennessee's second-straight victory after its near upset over then-No.2 Alabama, a 12-10 loss.
The key for Tennessee will be the continued success of its senior quarterback. Crompton ranks in the top half of most statistical categories in the SEC - including passing for the third most yards per game (216.4 ypg) - and is much improved from a season ago.
"It seems like whoever has worked with him has done an excellent job," Nutt said. "He knows where he wants to go with the ball and he has been very accurate."
This will be the 63rd all-time meeting between the two schools. The Volunteers have won 12 straight in the series dating back to 1984.
