Ole Miss Football Game Notes

Sept. 26, 2005

Game 4: Ole Miss (1-2, 0-1 SEC) at (#9/10) Tennessee (2-1, 1-1 SEC)

Ole Miss Game Notes in PDF Format

DATE: Saturday, October 1, 2005

TIME: 11:30 a.m. CT

SITE (CAPACITY): Neyland Stadium (104,079); Knoxville, Tenn.

TV: Jefferson-Pilot (Dave Neal, play-by-play; Dave Rowe, color analyst; Dave Baker, sideline reporter)

RADIO: Ole Miss Radio Network (David Kellum, play-by-play; Harry Harrison, color analyst; Stan Sandroni, sideline reporter; Richard Cross and Pete Cordelli, pregame and postgame hosts). Radio frequency in Neyland Stadium will be 92.5 FM.

POLLS: Tennessee is ranked No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 and No. 10 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. The Vols debuted at 12th in the Harris Interactive Poll, which began this week.

SERIES INFO: This game will mark the 62nd meeting between the Rebels and Volunteers dating back to 1902. Tennessee holds a 42-18-1 advantage in the series and has won 11 straight in the series since a 41-17 win in 1984 and 13 of the last 14 dating back to 1981. The Volunteers rallied for a 21-17 victory last year in Oxford. The Rebels will be making their first visit to Knoxville since a 31-17 win by Tennessee in 1997.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Ole Miss has won eight of its last 11 games against SEC Eastern Division foes ... Tennessee has an 11-game win streak in the series ... Redshirt freshman RB Mico McSwain has led Ole Miss in rushing in each of the first three games, and ran for 114 yards and a TD on Saturday ... The Rebels are looking to avoid a second straight 1-3 start.

OLE MISS HEAD COACH Ed Orgeron: Ed Orgeron (Northwestern State, 1984) is in his first season as the Rebels' head coach, having been hired on Dec. 16, 2004. Ole Miss is Orgeron's first career head coaching position, although he possesses 20 years of college coaching experience, most recently as an assistant head coach on USC's 2003 and 2004 national champion teams.

TENNESSEE HEAD COACH PHILLIP FULMER: Phillip Fulmer is in his 14th season at the helm of the Tennessee Volunteers, recording a 124-32 record. He took over head coaching duties during the 1992 season and went 4-0, including a 38-23 win over Boston College in the 1993 Hall of Fame Bowl. The Volunteers have since made 12 straight bowl appearances under Fulmer and won the 1998 national championship with a 23-16 victory over Florida State in the 1999 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The Volunteers also won six SEC Eastern Division titles and two SEC Championships in 1997 and 1998. Fulmer is 3-0 against Ole Miss.

TENNESSEE SCOUTING REPORT: The Volunteers are 2-1 on the season and 1-1 in the SEC after rallying for a 30-27 overtime win at No. 4 LSU on Monday. Through its first three contests, Tennessee is posting 18.0 points and 315.0 yards of offense per game. The Volunteers are averaging 91.3 yards rushing per game, with senior RB Gerald Riggs having rushed for 285 yards on 64 carries. The reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week, senior QB Rick Clausen is 40-of-61 passing for 413 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. Freshman QB Erik Ainge has completed 26-of-62 passes for 258 yards with two TDs and three INTs. Senior WR C.J. Fayton tops the receiving corps with 14 catches for 161 yards and a TD. Senior WR Chris Hannon has totaled 10 receptions for 97 yards with a score, while junior WR Bret Smith has eight grabs for 69 yards and a pair of TDs.Defensively, the Volunteers are allowing an average of 17.7 points and 279.3 yards per game. Senior CB Jason Allen is leading the team with 25 tackles (20 solo) with two TFLs. Senior LB Omar Gaither follows with 23 stops (20 solo) and 2.5 TFLs. Senior LB Kevin Simon has recorded 17 stops and two pass break-ups, while senior DL Jesse Mahelona boasts a team-high four tackles-for-loss with a two sacks. Junior PK James Wilhoit is 2-of-4 on field goals and 6-for-6 on PATs, and Freshman P Britton Colquitt is punting for an average of 37.8 yards in 14 attempts.

OLE MISS BEGINS COACH "O" ERA: Ole Miss officially kicked off the Ed Orgeron era with a 10-6 victory at Memphis on Sept. 5. Orgeron was hired as the 35th head coach in the history of the University of Mississippi on December 16, 2004. Prior to coming to Ole Miss, Orgeron served the previous seven seasons as the defensive line coach at the University of Southern California and played a key role in Pete Carroll's Trojans winning back-to-back national championships in 2003 and 2004. He also served as USC's recruiting coordinator from 2001-2004 and was named assistant head coach in 2003.

REBEL NOTEBOOK
Ole Miss is off to a 1-2 start for the second straight year ... The last 1-2 start prior to 2004 was in 1988.
The Wyoming loss was only the Rebels' third in their last 27 non-conference games in Oxford.
The 10-point setback to Wyoming marked Ole Miss' worst loss to a non-conference opponent in Oxford since a 27-7 loss to Southern Miss in 1983.
The Rebels enter the game with an all-time record of 588-437-35 (.572 winning percentage).
The University of Mississippi is in its 111th football season dating back to 1893 ... Ole Miss did not field teams in 1897 due to an epidemic of yellow fever, and also in 1943 when football was abolished at all Mississippi state-supported institutions by the Board of Trustees.

DEBUTS: Ole Miss had a pair of players make their Rebel debuts against Wyoming: Milton Collins (Fr., WR), Robert Bass (RFr., K). With those two, the Rebels have had 21 players and eight true freshmen see their first action in the Red and Blue this season.

FIRST-TIME STARTERS: Four Rebels made their first career starts against Wyoming:
OFFENSE: #15 Robert Lane (So., QB); #40- Mico McSwain (RFr., RB); #44- Jason Cook (RFr., FB).
DEFENSE: #42- Robert Russell (Fr., MLB)

OLE MISS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
This game at Tennessee will mark the first ranked opponent the Rebels will face this season.
The Rebels are 3-5 versus top 25 teams dating back to a 45-30 win over No. 25 Mississippi State in the 2000 Egg Bowl.
Ole Miss is 43-109-2 all-time versus ranked teams.
The Rebels are 11-58 all-time versus ranked teams on the road.

OLE MISS VS. SEC EAST
Since the SEC started divisional play in 1992, Ole Miss is 23-14 versus the SEC Eastern Division.
Entering the game with Tennessee, the Rebels have won eight of their last 11 games versus the SEC East, dating back to Ole Miss' 45-38 win over Vanderbilt to end the 2001 season.
Last year, Ole Miss was 2-1 against SEC East opponents, defeating Vanderbilt 26-23 (OT) and South Carolina 31-28 and losing to No. 13 Tennessee 21-17 ... In 2003, the Rebels recorded their first three-game sweep of their SEC East opponents.
Ole Miss is 0-3 against Tennessee since SEC began divisional play in 1992.
Ole Miss is 12-11 against SEC East teams on the road, and 11-6 against SEC East opponents at home.
The following chart shows the Rebels' record versus SEC Eastern Division opponents since divisional play started in 1992:

REBELS LOOK TO ROOKIE RUSHER: Redshirt freshman RB Mico McSwain earned his first career start against Wyoming and responded with his first 100-yard game with 114 yards on just seven carries. In his first year of action, McSwain has topped Ole Miss in rushing in all three games this season, and has provided some exciting highlights. The Richton, Miss., native broke free for a 57-yard scoring run at Vanderbilt and scampered for a 60-yard TD against Wyoming in what is the Rebels' longest play from scrimmage this season. McSwain spent time at wide receiver and free safety during his true freshman year before moving to running back in preseason drills.

OFFENSIVE NOTES
Senior WR Mike Espy has scored a touchdown in the last two games ... His 41-yard TD reception against Wyoming was his first catch for a score since 2003.
After no carries in the first two games, freshman RB Antonio Turner garnered a team-high eight carries against Wyoming.
Nine different Rebel receivers caught a pass vs. the Cowboys.
With his start at right tackle against Wyoming, senior OL Tre' Stallings extended his stretch of consecutive starts to 40, which is the third-longest active streak in the SEC.
Ole Miss has scored first in all three games ... The Rebels were successful on the opening drive in the first two games of the season, and picked up a 35-yard field goal in each instance.
Senior WR Mario Hill opened the season with consecutive 100-yard receivings game ... The last Rebel receiver to manage back-to-back 100-yard games was Chris Collins in 2002.
Ole Miss returns 19 letterwinners, including four starters, on offense this year.

McBRIDE LEADS SEC IN PASSES DEFENDED: Junior DB Trumaine McBride currently tops the SEC in passes defended with five breakups and an interception for a total of six. Making his 14th consecutive start at right cornerback, McBride tied his career high for pass break-ups against Wyoming with three. The Clarksdale native finished second in the SEC in passes defended a year ago, averaging 1.45 per game. He registered 13 pass deflections and led the Rebels with three picks.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
Senior LB Kelvin Robinson ranks second overall and first among linebackers in the SEC in tackles, averaging 10.0 per game.
Junior DB Bryan Brown recorded a career-high six tackles against Wyoming ... His previous career-high was four tackles from this year's Memphis game.
In his first start of the season against Wyoming, senior DL McKinley Boykin matched his career high for tackles with seven.
In the second quarter of the Wyoming game, senior LB Kelvin Robinson made his second career interception, first since the 2003 Texas Tech game and first as a linebacker.
The Ole Miss defense has forced and recovered a fumble in two of the first three games.
In the season-opening win at Memphis, the Ole Miss defense held All-American senior running back DeAngelo Williams under 100 yards rushing for only the third time in his last 23 games.
Ole Miss returns 19 letterwinners on defense, including seven starters, from last season.

ESPY STARS AS PUNT RETURNER: Senior Mike Espy broke free for a 31-yard punt return against Wyoming and has totaled 87 PR yardage over the last two games. With the Rebels rallying in the fourth quarter at Vanderbilt, Espy ran back a punt 51 yards for a his first career return for a touchdown. It marked the first punt return for a score by a Rebel since Jason Armstead scampered 62 yards against Memphis in 2002. Espy, a Madison, Miss., native, has moved into fifth on the Rebel all-time PR list this season with 671 career yards. He currently ranks second in the SEC with an average of 12.4 yards per punt.

SPECIALTY NOTES
Redshirt freshman K Robert Bass converted his first two career PATs against Wyoming ... Bass is the third different kicker used by the Rebels this season, along with junior Will Moseley and sophomore Matt Hinkle.
Ole Miss is replacing both PK Jonathan Nichols and P Cody Ridgeway, both of whom were mainstays of the Rebel special teams unit for the past three seasons.
Nichols graduated holding 15 Ole Miss records and was the 2003 Lou Groza Award recipient for the nation's top place kicker ... His 344 career points ranked sixth on the SEC's career scoring list.
Ridgeway ended his career with 10,021 career punting yards to become the third player in school history to record 10,000 career punting yards. He also finished sixth on the school's career list for punting average, averaging 42.1 yards on 238 career kicks.

OLE MISS ON TV
This game at Tennessee, to be carried by Jefferson-Pilot, is the Rebels' third TV game of the year, as the Memphis game was televised by ESPN and the Vanderbilt game was carried by JP.
Over the last four seasons, 28 of the Rebels' 40 games have been televised.
Last year, the Rebels appeared on TV five times.
All-time, this game will be the Rebels' 147th TV appearance since Ole Miss made its TV debut in the 1953 Sugar Bowl versus Georgia Tech ... Ole Miss is 68-76-2 all-time in TV games.
Ole Miss is 20-13 all-time on JP.
The Rebels have won 12 of their last 18 TV games dating back to the 24-12 win over Mississippi State in the 2002 "Egg Bowl."

OLE MISS IN OCTOBER
The Rebels are 212-141-14 (.597 winning pct.) all-time in the month of October.
Ole Miss is 12-4 (.750 winning pct.) in October since 2001.
The Rebels went 2-2 in October last year ... The 21-17 loss to No. 13 Tennessee on Oct. 16 snapped a six-game win streak during the month of October.
The Rebels are 65-85-9 (.437 winning pct.) in road games during October and 147-56-5 (.719 winning pct.) in home games.
In SEC games played in October, Ole Miss has an overall record of 93-94-6 (.497 winning pct.) ... The Rebels 51-35-2 (.591 winning pct.) in SEC home games during October and 42-59-4 (.419 winning pct.) in SEC road games during the month.
Against non-conference opponents in October, Ole Miss is 119-47-8 (.707 winning pct.) ... The Rebels are 96-21-3 (.813 winning pct.) in non-conference home games in October and 23-26-5 (.472 winning pct.) in road games versus non-SEC teams in October.

GRADUATING REBELS: The Rebels have four players on this year's team who have completed their undergraduate degrees -- DT McKinley Boykin (Bessemer, Ala.), LB Kelvin Robinson (Jackson, Miss.), QB Micheal Spurlock (Indianola, Miss.) and OL Tre' Stallings (Magnolia, Miss.). \

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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