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Nov. 5, 2000

Game 9 - LSU Tigers (6-3, 4-2 SEC)
at Ole Miss Rebels (6-2, 3-2 SEC)

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

DATE: Saturday, November 11, 2000

TIME: 8:00 p.m. (CST)

SITE: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/ Hollingsworth Field (50,577)

TV: ESPN2 (Dave Barnett, play-by-play, Bill Curry and Mike Golic, color analyst, Michele Tafoya, sideline reporter).

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network (David Kellum, play-by-play, Pete Cordelli, color analyst, Stan Sandroni, sideline reporter, Gary Darby, pre-game host.).

Records
Ole Miss improved to 6-2 on the season and 3-2 in the SEC with a 38-24 win at Arkansas this past Saturday. The Rebels are tied for third in the SEC West with Mississippi State. LSU is 6-3, 4-2 in the SEC and tied for first in the SEC West with Auburn, after edging Alabama 30-28 last weekend in Baton Rouge, La. Auburn, however, holds the tiebreaker with LSU as Auburn defeated LSU 34-17 earlier this season.

RANKINGS
Ole Miss enters the week unranked, however, the Rebels did receive 27 votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 and 11 in The Associated Press Top 25. LSU is also unranked but did garner 39 votes in the AP Top 25 and 12 in the Coaches Top 25.

Coaches
David Cutcliffe is in his second full season as head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. He is 15-6 at Ole Miss and has guided the Rebels to victories in the 1998 and 1999 Sanford Independence Bowls. He made his Ole Miss debut and recorded his first career win in the Rebels' 35-18 win over Texas Tech in the 1998 Sanford Independence Bowl. Ole Miss is Cutcliffe's first career head coaching assignment. This will be Cutcliffe's second game versus LSU and his first versus Tiger head coach Nick Saban. He is 1-0 against LSU ... Nick Saban is in his first season at LSU after spending the five previous years at Michigan State. He is 6-3 with the Tigers and has a career record of 49-29-1 in six-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. He guided Toledo to a 9-2 mark in 1990 and was 34-24-1 in his five seasons with the Spartans.

Series Info
LSU leads 48-36-4

Last meeting: Ole Miss won 42-23 last season in Baton Rouge, La.
In Oxford: Tied 4-4-1
In Baton Rouge: LSU 33-23-1
Other Sites: LSU 11-9-2 (Jackson, Miss.: LSU 9-6-2, Meridian: UM 1-0, New Orleans: UM 2-1, Vicksburg: LSU 1-0).
Largest UM win: 37-3 in Baton Rouge, 1963
Largest LSU win: 46-0 in Baton Rouge, 1901
Longest UM win streak: 6, 1952-57
Longest LSU win streak: 8, 1928-37

NOTES
Saturday's game will be the 89th all-time between Ole Miss and LSU dating back to 1894 ... LSU is Ole Miss' second-most played opponent. The Rebels have played only Mississippi State more times at 96 ... Ole Miss is looking to win four straight from LSU for the first time since winning six consecutive times from 1952-57 ... The Rebels have averaged 38.3 points per game in their last three meetings with the Tigers ... Last year's 42-23 victory in Baton Rouge marked the first time Ole Miss had won two straight in Baton Rouge since winning in 1966 and 1968 ... The two teams also played each other in the 1960 Sugar Bowl with the Rebels winning 21-0.

DEUCE WATCH:
(For more on Deuce, see pages 3-5).
McAllister recorded his third 100-yard rushing game of the season with 131 yards and two TDs against Arkansas.

With 186 all-purpose yards against the Razorbacks, McAllister became the first player in Ole Miss history to record three consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 all-purpose yards.

The two TDs by McAllister last Saturday tied Kayo Dottley's and Archie Manning's school single-season TD record of 14. McAllister is also two points shy of Manning's single-season scoring record of 86 points.

GAME NOTES

REBELS BECOME BOWL ELIGIBLE
With last Saturday's 38-24 win at Arkansas, Ole Miss improved to 6-2 on the season to become bowl eligible for the fourth straight year. The Rebels have advanced to post-season the past three seasons, their longest run since appearing in 15 straight bowl games from 1957-71. In its last bowl games, Ole Miss has defeated Marshall 34-31 in the 1997 Ford Motor City Bowl, Texas Tech 35-18 in the 1998 Sanford Independence Bowl, and Oklahoma 27-25 in last year's Sanford Independence Bow.

OLE MISS AIMS TO MATCH LAST YEAR'S 7-2 START
Ole Miss is searching for just its third start of 7-2 or better since 1971 Saturday against LSU. Since being 7-2 after nine games in 1971, the Rebels have only matched that twice. In 1990, Ole Miss started 8-1 en route to a 9-3 campaign and an appearance in the Gator Bowl. Last year, Ole Miss was 7-2 after nine games and finished the season 8-4 with a win over Oklahoma in the Sanford Independence Bowl. The 6-2 start by Ole Miss is its third in as many years. It is the first time that the Rebels have been at least 6-2 after eight games three consecutive seasons since doing so in 12 straight campaigns from 1952-1963.

McALLISTER RETURNS FROM INJURY
Senior RB Deuce McAllister saw his first substantial action against Arkansas this past Saturday since suffering a high left ankle sprain in the first quarter of the Alabama game on Oct. 14. McAllister did not play against UNLV on Oct. 28 until the overtime period and scored the game-winning TD with a one-yard dive over the top.

Against the Razorbacks, McAllister tallied 186 all-purpose yards, including 131 yards rushing on 20 carries with two TDs. The 131-yard rushing effort was his third 100-yard rushing performance of the season, and the 12th of his career (not including bowl games) to add to his school record.

Before suffering the injury against Alabama, McAllister was second in the nation in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game, and had ranked ninth in the nation in all-purpose yards with an average of 175.2 yards per game. McAllister is now averaging 134.6 all-purpose yards per game, ranking 35th nationally. He still, however, leads the SEC and ranks 10th nationally in scoring with an average of 10.5 points per game.

LEADER OF THE PACK
Despite seeing limited action in two games against Alabama (10/14) and UNLV (10/28), senior RB Deuce McAllister still leads the SEC in scoring, averaging 10.5 points per game. The 10.5 points per game also ranks 10th nationally. Florida's Jeff Chandler is second in the SEC in scoring at 9.0 points per game.

McALLISTER CRACKS 1,000 ALL-PURPOSE YARD MARK AGAIN
With his 186 all-purpose yards against Arkansas this past Saturday, senior Deuce McAllister became the first player in Ole Miss history to record at least 1,000 all-purpose yards in three consecutive seasons. Through eight games, McAllister has tallied 1,077 all-purpose yards, an average of 134.6 per game. He recorded 1,236 all-purpose yards in 1998 and set a school single-season mark with 1,692 last season. McAllister entered the season as one of five players in school history to record back-to-back seasons with at least 1,000 all-purpose yards. The others to record consecutive seasons with 1,000 all-purpose yards are: Kayo Dottley (1949-50), J.R. Ambrose (1985-86) Pat Coleman (1988-89) and John Avery (1996-97).

DEUCE TIES ANOTHER RECORD
With his two TDs versus Arkansas, Deuce McAllister tied Kayo Dottley's and Archie Manning's Ole Miss single-season record for TDs with 14. Dottley scored 14 TDs in 1949 and Manning tied the mark in 1969. McAllister is also two points shy of Manning's 1969 record of 86 total points scored (Manning scored 14 TDs and recorded one, two-point conversion). Eleven of McAllister's 14 TDs have come rushing this season, putting him three shy of school single-season record of 14 TD held by Dottley and Manning (see the Ole Miss Record Book on page 25).

CLOSING IN ON 3,000
Senior RB Deuce McAllister needs 125 rushing yards to reach the 3,000-yard mark for his career. He would be the first Ole Miss RB to record 3,000 career rushing yards and the 19th in SEC history. The last SEC back to do so was Alabama's Shaun Alexander last year, who finished his career ninth on SEC's career rushing list with 3,565 career rushing yards.

MEL'S BIG BOARD
ESPN football analyst Mel Kiper, Jr., rates both RB Deuce McAllister and CB Ken Lucas as one of his top 25 collegiate seniors for next April's National Football League Draft. Kiper rates McAllister as the No.1 collegiate senior prospect, and Lucas No. 14. Lucas is the top corner and defensive back on Kiper's top 25 list. Mel's Big Board is updated every Wednesday on ESPN.com.

UNDER THE LIGHTS
Since lights were installed at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field in 1990, Ole Miss has enjoyed great success in home night games (6:00 p.m. start or later). The Rebels are 19-2 (.905 winning percentage) in home night games, starting with their 23-21 win over Memphis State on Sept. 8, 1990. Ole Miss is 8-2 in SEC home night games. Saturday's game will be the first time Ole Miss has hosted LSU in a home night game in Oxford.

MILLER REACHES THE BIG FOUR-OH
With two TD passes against Arkansas, senior QB Romaro Miller became the first Ole Miss signal-caller to throw 40 TD passes in a career. Miller connected with sophomore TE Doug Zeigler for a nine-yard pass TD pass in the second quarter, and later hit senior WR Grant Heard with 27-yard scoring pass in the third quarter. Miller became Ole Miss' career leader in TD passes on Oct. 7 when he threw three against Arkansas State to break the record of 31 held by Archie Manning (1968-70), Kent Austin (1981-85) and Mark Young (1985-88) (see the Ole Miss Record Book on page 24). The 40 career TD passes is also tied for 15th in SEC history with Auburn's Stan White (1979-82) and LSU's Herb Tyler (1995-98).

MILLER APPROACHING 6,000-YARD MARK IN PASSING, TOTAL OFFENSE
After throwing for 109 yards in the 38-24 win over Arkansas, senior QB Romaro Miller is 190 passing yards shy of becoming the second Ole Miss player to throw for 6,000 career passing yards. Kent Austin is the only other Ole Miss QB to do so, throwing for a school career record 6,184 from 1981-85. Miller currently has 5,810 career passing yards, ranking second all-time at Ole Miss and 374 yards shy of Austin's record.

In career total offense, Miller has accumulated 5,852 yards (5,810 passing, 42 rushing). With 148 yards of total offense against LSU Saturday, Miller would become the third player in school history to record 6,000 yards of career total offense. The others are John Fourcade (1978-81) with 6,713 and Austin with 6,179 (see the Ole Miss Record Book on page 25).

HEARD CONTINUES TO CLOSE IN ON CAREER RECEPTIONS MARK
With two receptions against Arkansas, senior WR Grant Heard closed to within nine receptions of Ta'Boris Fisher's (1993-96) Ole Miss career record of 139. Heard is currently in third place on the list, five behind Cory Peterson (1996-99) in second with 135 (see the Ole Miss Record Book on page 25).

HEARD LOOKING TO CRACK 2,000-YARD PLATEAU
In addition to zeroing in on the Ole Miss career record for receptions, senior WR Grant Heard needs 122 more receiving yards to become just the third player in school history to record 2,000 career receiving yards. Heard currently has 1,878 career receiving yards, ranking third on the school's career list. Willie Green (1986-89) with a school record 2,274 career receiving yards and J.R. Ambrose (1984-87) with 2,012 yards are the other two players in school history to record 2,000 career receiving yards (see the Ole Miss Record Book on page 25).

INJURIES CONTINUE TO ADD UP
Senior DE Shane Elam (Covington, Tenn.) and junior DT Anthony Sims (Memphis, Tenn.) did not play in this past Saturday's game against Arkansas due to injuries. Elam underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Oct. 30 after suffering an injury against UNLV. He is listed as day-to-day. Sims has missed the last two games due to a neck injury, and is day-to-day. Through eight games, Ole Miss starters and key reserves combined have missed 23 games due to injuries. In addition, senior RB Deuce McAllister has missed nearly nine quarters of action due to injury. He sat out the entire fourth quarter against Vanderbilt (9/16) with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. He then suffered a high left ankle sprain early in the first quarter against Alabama and played sparingly the rest of the game. Against UNLV on Oct. 28, McAllister missed the entire game but the overtime period.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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