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The University of Mississippi Athletics
GAME PREVIEW: Ole Miss vs. Southeastern Louisiana
9/14/2009 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss football team makes its 2009 home debut Saturday at 6:30 p.m. when the fifth-ranked Rebels welcome Southeastern Louisiana to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Saturday's game will be televised live on CSS with Doug Bell and JC Pearson handling the play-by-play and color duties, respectively.
The Rebels are coming off a bye week and have not played since defeating Memphis 45-14 Sept. 6 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. In that game against the Tigers, Ole Miss junior quarterback Jevan Snead extended his streak to 10 games with at least one touchdown pass. He finished the game 12-of-22 for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior Dexter McCluster posted 115 all-purpose yards and scored two touchdowns on nine rushes for 50 yards and six catches for 65 yards. Senior wide receiver Shay Hodge led the Rebel receiving corps with 77 yards on three catches.
The Rebels have posted 45 or more points in three straight games for the first time in school history. Over its last five games, Ole Miss is averaging 45.4 points per outing, while holding the opposition to just 12.2 points. Included in this span of games is a 59-0 blanking of Louisiana-Monroe, which was Ole Miss' largest margin of victory since 1969. It is also one of two shutouts in the streak.
"It was good to get everybody back out yesterday," Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. "It seems like it had been a long time since we had a practice together. I think we just had two or three that weren't there, so that was really good. They are still a little sluggish and there are still a few lingering effects. We can tell they have been away from ball and are a little bit out of shape. We are anxious to get back going this week and get ready to play again."
Ole Miss heads into Saturday's game with Southeastern Louisiana riding a seven-game winning streak dating back to last season, leaving the Rebels one win shy of their longest winning streak in nearly 37 years. The last time the Rebels won eight straight was during the 1971-72 campaigns, when the Rebels reeled off 10 consecutive triumphs. Ole Miss won the final seven games of 1971, beginning with a 20-6 win over Southern Miss on Oct. 16, 1971, and the final victory in the streak was a 13-9 win over USM on Sept. 30, 1972.
Off to its best start since 2004, Southeastern has opened the 2009 campaign with impressive wins over Division II Texas A&M-Commerce and nationally-ranked NAIA program Union (Ky.) College. In their first two games, the Lions have outscored their opponents, 110-27, and have averaged over 500 yards total offense while allowing an average of 222.5.
Quarterback Brian Babin has completed nearly 72 percent of his passes in the first two games (a span of five-plus quarters), tossing for 665 yards and eight touchdowns. Simmie Yarborough, a native of Brookhaven, Miss., has caught 16 passes with four touchdowns in his first two games for the Lions, while both Merrick Lanaux and Jasper Ducksworth have each collected nine catches.
"Southeastern Louisiana spreads you out every which way with a lot of different formations," Nutt said. "They try to get the ball to different receivers and they do have a good running back. It is really more basketball on grass where they are trying to spread out everyone, get some open space and throw screens. We have to make sure we do a good job of hustling and covering all of our bases."
Ole Miss is 93-15-5 (.845 winning pct.) in home openers and is 43-11 versus non-conference opponents dating back to a 38-0 win over Tulane on Nov. 12, 1994. In addition, the Rebels are 32-6 in their last 38 non-conference games in Oxford and have won five straight. Saturday will be the first meeting on the gridiron between Ole Miss and Southeastern Louisiana.
