Postgame Notes

Oct. 4, 2003

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NOTING ELI
17-of-29 passing, 262 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT

With 17 completions, Manning passed Auburn's Stan White (1990-1993) for 10 th place on the SEC's all-time list. Manning now has 669 career completions, five shy of former LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson for ninth-place. White had 659 career completions.
Manning's 262 yards passing today also moved him past White for 10 th place on the SEC's career list for passing yards. Manning now has 8,110 career passing yards and trails Kentucky's Tim Couch (1996-1998) by 325 yards for ninth place.
Manning totaled 258 yards of total offense to pass White for 10 th on the SEC's career list. Manning now has 8,003 yards of career total offense, while White had 7,920. Manning now trails Couch by 157 yards for ninth place on the SEC's career list.
Today's game marked just fourth time in 29 career starts that Manning did not throw at least one TD pass. Prior to today's game, the last time Manning did not throw a TD pass was last year against Georgia.
Florida is the only SEC opponent that Manning has started against in which he has not thrown a TD pass during his career. Manning was 18-of-33 for 154 yards with no TDs and no interceptions in last year's 17-14 win in Oxford.

SERIES NOTES

Today's game was the 21 st all-time in the series dating back to 1926.
Ole Miss leads the series 11-9-1 and has won back-to-back games versus the Gators for the first time since winning four straight from 1946-1948.
Florida has won eight of the last 12 meetings since 1964, however, Ole Miss has won three of the last five since 1989, including going 2-1 in Gainesville. The Rebels also beat the Gators 24-19 at Gainesville in 1989.
Today's was the first meeting between the two teams in Gainesville since a 28-10 Florida win in 1995.
Ole Miss is 5-3-1 all-time at "The Swamp."

REBEL NOTEBOOK

With today's 20-17 win, Ole Miss is off to its second straight 2-0 start in the SEC and just the third since 1970.
Today's 20-17 win was Ole Miss' first over a ranked team since upsetting the No. 6-ranked Gators 17-14 last year in Oxford. It is the Rebels' first road win over a ranked team since a 36-21 win over a No. 8 LSU in 1997.
Ole Miss is now 7-2 in October since 2001.
Ole Miss improved to 20-15 (.571 winning pct.) versus the SEC Eastern Division since the conference started divisional play in 1992. The Rebels have now won five of their last six games versus the SEC East dating back to the 38-27 win over the Commodores in 2001.
Florida was the first ranked opponent Ole Miss has played this season. The Gators were ranked No. 24 in both of this week's Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 polls.

KEY STATS

Ole Miss held Florida QB Chris Leak to 0-for-6 passing in the fourth quarter, while Manning was 5-of-7 for 63 yards in the fourth quarter.
The Rebels controlled the ball for 18:24 in the second half after only having 12:58 of possession in the first half.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

Ole Miss gained 485 yards of total offense this afternoon to go over the 400-yard mark in total offense for the fourth straight game.
Ole Miss' 223 yards rushing this afternoon marks the second time this season the Rebels have gained over 200 yards rushing.
Ole Miss had a season-high 225 yards against Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 13.
Senior WR Chris Collins caught five passes to extend his streak to 27 consecutive games with a reception. It is the second longest known streak in school history behind Willie Green's (1986-1989) 37-game streak.
Collins' fourth reception of the afternoon marked the 150 th of his career. He entered today's game as the school's all-time leader in receptions and finished the day at 151 career receptions.
Collins had 72 yards receiving to become the fourth player in Ole Miss history to surpass the 2,000-yard mark in career receiving yards. He also passed Grant Head (1996-2000) and J.R. Ambrose (1984-1987) to move into second place on the school's career list for receiving yards with 2,061. He now trails Green by 213 yards for first-place on the list at 2,274 yards.
Senior RB Ronald McClendon recorded his first career 100-yard rushing game, gaining 107 yards on eight carries. He picked up 105 yards on six carries in the first half, including scoring on a 52-yard run in the second quarter to pull the Rebels to within 14-10.
McClendon's 107 yards rushing doubled his rushing output for the season. He entered today's game having rushed for 100 yards on 18 carries.
Junior WR Bill Flowers had four receptions today to pass Jim Poole (1969-1971) and Eddie Small (1990-1993) for 10 th place on the Ole Miss career list for receptions. Flowers now has 96 career receptions. Poole and Small both had 94.
Flowers caught a career-long 59-yard pass from Eli Manning to the Florida seven in the third quarter, setting up a Jonathan Nichols' 23-yard field goal to pull Ole Miss to within 17-13. The 59-yard reception from Manning to Flowers is the Rebels' longest pass play of the season.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

Senior CB Von Hutchins recorded his first career sack in the third quarter, dropping QB Chris Leak for a four-yard loss.
Hutchins' sack extended the Rebels' streak to 21 straight games with at least one sack. Ole Miss has also recorded at least on sack in 38 of the last 39 contests.
Ole Miss received interceptions from Hutchins and senior Travis Blanchard in today's game, and the Rebels have intercepted at least one pass in four of the five games this season.
The Rebels are now 20-1 under head coach David Cutcliffe when holding opponents to under 20 points. The only time Ole Miss has lost a game during the Cutcliffe-era when allowing less than 20 points was last year at LSU, 14-13.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

Junior PK Jonathan Nichols missed his first goal in 14 attempts this season on a 52-yarder in the second quarter. The miss also snapped Nichols' streak of 16 consecutive field goals made dating back to last season. Prior to today's game, Nichols' last miss was a 32-yard attempt in the second quarter of last year's Egg Bowl versus Mississippi State.
Nichols became the fourth player - the third kicker - in Ole Miss history to score 200 career points on a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter. Nichols scored eight points today to give him 201 for his career, moving him six points shy of the Ole Miss career record for points by a kicker set by Brian Lee (1989-1992) with 207.
Nichols was 2-of-3 on field goals in today's game and is 8-of-9 in the last two games. He tied an SEC record with six made field goals in last week's 49-45 loss to Texas Tech.
Nichols made both of his PAT attempts today to extend his school-record streak to 67 consecutive PATs made.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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