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The University of Mississippi Athletics
No. 18 Ole Miss Continues Road Swing Saturday At Vanderbilt
9/28/2009 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 18 Ole Miss football team hits the road for the second straight week when the Rebels travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Vanderbilt Saturday at 6 p.m. from Vanderbilt Stadium.
"It's good to get into our regular routine," Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt said. "Sunday's have always been a time where we can come back, watch the film, put that to rest and get right back on the field. I thought we had a very good practice. It was good to see the sunshine. We got on Vanderbilt and we are looking forward to getting back out there again tomorrow."
Ole Miss (2-1, 0-1 SEC) enters Saturday coming off a 16-10 setback at South Carolina that snapped the Rebels' eight-game winning streak. Despite the loss, Rebel quarterback Jevan Snead threw a touchdown pass in his 12th consecutive game to leave him just four short of Eli Manning's school record.
Junior wide receiver Markeith Summers topped the team in receiving and hauled in the lone touchdown pass of the game against the Gamecocks. Summers finished with 60 yards receiving and leads the team with two touchdowns this season.
Senior Dexter McCluster led the Rebels on the ground and finished with 85 yards on 15 carries.
The Commodores snapped a two-game skid with a 36-17 road win at Rice on Saturday. Freshman running back Warren Norman ran for 119 yards and a touchdown and his been Vanderbilt's top offensive weapon this year, rushing for 250 yards and three touchdowns. He also ranks fifth in the SEC in kickoff returns at 25.1 yards per return.
The Commodores top the conference in pass defense (106.2 ypg) and rank second in pass defense efficiency (80.2 effic.).
"Vanderbilt is always sound," Nutt said. "Offensively, they have an athletic quarterback. They spread you out and try to keep you off balance. Defensively, they are very sound. I've been going against Bobby Johnson for a long time and you know that you are going to have a hard-fought ballgame."
Saturday will be the 84th meeting between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt dating back to 1894. The Rebels lead the series 46-35-2 and have won 12 of the last 16 meetings since 1992, despite last year's 23-17 setback in Oxford. The Commodores hold a 26-20-2 advantage in games played in Nashville, although the Rebels have taken five of the last seven. The Commodores won the last two at Vanderbilt Stadium.
Ole Miss leads 46-17-2 in SEC games versus Vanderbilt. The Commodores won the first 19 games in the series, with Ole Miss having won 46 of the last 64 games played between the two teams.
