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The University of Mississippi Athletics
GAME PREVIEW: Ole Miss vs. ULM
11/10/2008 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - On the verge of becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2003, the Ole Miss football teams looks for that all-important sixth victory of the season when the Rebels host Louisiana-Monroe Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
"Having the opportunity to go to a bowl game was one of our goals when the season started," Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. "It just helps everything. It rewards your players who have worked so hard and made a commitment. It gives you extra practice time for your young people. It helps with recruiting. There is nothing like practicing during that time in December and having recruits in for official visits. It does so much. It's your school and your name that is being mentioned all the time."
Coming off its second and final bye week of the season, Ole Miss enters the weekend boasting a 5-4 overall record after knocking off Auburn 17-7 in the Rebels' most recent outing to secure a second straight conference victory. Following that game against the Tigers, Maurice Miller was named the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after grading out at 92 percent while posting 16 finishing blocks and four knockdowns.
Offensively against Auburn, the Ole Miss offensive attack had 233 rushing yards, the most by the Rebels since posting 240 in 2006, and Ole Miss kept the football for 16:50 time of possession in the second half. Junior running back Cordera Eason rushed for a career-high 104 yards, while sophomore quarterback Jevan Snead threw his 14th touchdown pass of the season as he hooked up with Shay Hodge for his SEC-leading seventh TD catch.
Guided by sixth-year head coach Charlie Weatherbie, ULM is coming off a 24-21 loss at Middle Tennessee to drop to 3-7 this season. Saturday's game with Ole Miss will mark the third game this season in which ULM has faced an SEC team. The Warhawks fell to both Auburn and Arkansas earlier this year.
The Warhawk offense is averaging 158.7 rushing yards per game and 200.0 yards through the air. Senior quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster has completed 167-of-279 passes for 1,854 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. He totaled 328 yards of offense against Middle Tennessee, rushing for 126 and throwing for 202 and two touchdowns. Following a 10-catch effort last time out, junior wide receiver Darrell McNeal is the leading receiver with 49 receptions for 527 yards and four scores, while sophomore running back Frank Goodin is the top rusher with 649 yards on 147 carries with four touchdowns.
"We're getting ready to play a Louisiana-Monroe team that offensively gives you a lot of problems because they are in so many different formations and do so many things," Nutt said. "They also bring in, like everybody else seems to be doing, the Wild Rebel - putting a good athlete there for the direct snap. You have to work on multiple sets. Defensively, they run hard and play hard to get to the ball. If you just look around, they beat Alabama last year, and they really had Arkansas beat this year."
Saturday's game will be just the third meeting between the Warhawks and the Rebels. Ole Miss has won both encounters in Oxford, prevailing 31-3 in the 2002 season opener and 59-14 in the 2003 home opener. The Rebels enter this game versus ULM with an all-time record of 29-1-2 (.938 winning percentage) against teams that currently compete in the Sun Belt Conference. The Rebels last faced the Sun Belt in 2004 with a 28-21 victory over Arkansas State. The only loss Ole Miss has suffered against a current Sun Belt member came back in 1915, 10-0 to Arkansas State in Oxford.
Both head coaches are quite familiar with each other as the duo spent their collegiate careers playing quarterback for Oklahoma State (Nutt 1979-80, Weatherbie 1974-76), and both began their coaching careers as OSU graduate assistants (Nutt 1981-82, Weatherbie 1977). Eventually, the two would end up on the same staff working on the same side of the ball from 1990-91 at Arkansas, with Nutt as the wide receivers coach and Weatherbie as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for a year (1991).
OleMissSports.com will provide live audio through RebelVision, live stats and an in-game blog. The official Rebel athletics website will also provide a full game recap, a photo gallery and live postgame video. The CSS replay of the game will be Sunday at 1 p.m.
"Having the opportunity to go to a bowl game was one of our goals when the season started," Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. "It just helps everything. It rewards your players who have worked so hard and made a commitment. It gives you extra practice time for your young people. It helps with recruiting. There is nothing like practicing during that time in December and having recruits in for official visits. It does so much. It's your school and your name that is being mentioned all the time."
Coming off its second and final bye week of the season, Ole Miss enters the weekend boasting a 5-4 overall record after knocking off Auburn 17-7 in the Rebels' most recent outing to secure a second straight conference victory. Following that game against the Tigers, Maurice Miller was named the SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week after grading out at 92 percent while posting 16 finishing blocks and four knockdowns.
Offensively against Auburn, the Ole Miss offensive attack had 233 rushing yards, the most by the Rebels since posting 240 in 2006, and Ole Miss kept the football for 16:50 time of possession in the second half. Junior running back Cordera Eason rushed for a career-high 104 yards, while sophomore quarterback Jevan Snead threw his 14th touchdown pass of the season as he hooked up with Shay Hodge for his SEC-leading seventh TD catch.
Guided by sixth-year head coach Charlie Weatherbie, ULM is coming off a 24-21 loss at Middle Tennessee to drop to 3-7 this season. Saturday's game with Ole Miss will mark the third game this season in which ULM has faced an SEC team. The Warhawks fell to both Auburn and Arkansas earlier this year.
The Warhawk offense is averaging 158.7 rushing yards per game and 200.0 yards through the air. Senior quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster has completed 167-of-279 passes for 1,854 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions. He totaled 328 yards of offense against Middle Tennessee, rushing for 126 and throwing for 202 and two touchdowns. Following a 10-catch effort last time out, junior wide receiver Darrell McNeal is the leading receiver with 49 receptions for 527 yards and four scores, while sophomore running back Frank Goodin is the top rusher with 649 yards on 147 carries with four touchdowns.
"We're getting ready to play a Louisiana-Monroe team that offensively gives you a lot of problems because they are in so many different formations and do so many things," Nutt said. "They also bring in, like everybody else seems to be doing, the Wild Rebel - putting a good athlete there for the direct snap. You have to work on multiple sets. Defensively, they run hard and play hard to get to the ball. If you just look around, they beat Alabama last year, and they really had Arkansas beat this year."
Saturday's game will be just the third meeting between the Warhawks and the Rebels. Ole Miss has won both encounters in Oxford, prevailing 31-3 in the 2002 season opener and 59-14 in the 2003 home opener. The Rebels enter this game versus ULM with an all-time record of 29-1-2 (.938 winning percentage) against teams that currently compete in the Sun Belt Conference. The Rebels last faced the Sun Belt in 2004 with a 28-21 victory over Arkansas State. The only loss Ole Miss has suffered against a current Sun Belt member came back in 1915, 10-0 to Arkansas State in Oxford.
Both head coaches are quite familiar with each other as the duo spent their collegiate careers playing quarterback for Oklahoma State (Nutt 1979-80, Weatherbie 1974-76), and both began their coaching careers as OSU graduate assistants (Nutt 1981-82, Weatherbie 1977). Eventually, the two would end up on the same staff working on the same side of the ball from 1990-91 at Arkansas, with Nutt as the wide receivers coach and Weatherbie as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for a year (1991).
OleMissSports.com will provide live audio through RebelVision, live stats and an in-game blog. The official Rebel athletics website will also provide a full game recap, a photo gallery and live postgame video. The CSS replay of the game will be Sunday at 1 p.m.
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