OXFORD, Miss. — LSU head coach Les Miles has stressed all week that a two-game season stands between his fourth-ranked Tigers’ and a shot at reaching the SEC Championship Game. The task of moving one step closer to claiming a berth in the league’s title game continues tonight as LSU travels to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to meet the Ole Miss Rebels in the 94th meeting between the two storied rivals.
Kickoff is slated for 6:45 p.m. to a nationally televised audience via ESPN2. In addition, the game can be heard on affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network as well as on the Internet in the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net.
“I think these guys understand the importance of this game,” Miles said of the mindset of his team going into the contest. “We are taking it one game at a time and that’s been the focus of the team on the practice field this week.”
The Tigers (8-1, 5-1 SEC) have rattled off seven straight wins and will put their six-game road-winning streak on the line. Ole Miss (3-6, 1-5) is searching for its first victory over a SEC Western Division team and first against a ranked opponent.
Victories over the Rebels and Arkansas in the final two weeks of the season send LSU to the league’s championship game for the third time in the past five seasons.
Ole Miss has lost two straight contests under first-year head coach Ed Orgeron, including a 28-17 setback to Arkansas last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Tigers leaped to No. 4 in the major polls this week following their dramatic 16-13 overtime triumph at then-No. 3 Alabama last Saturday. In that contest, a stifling LSU defense led by senior defensive tackle Kyle Williams held the Crimson Tide to three points in the second half on a lone overtime field goal.
For his career-high 11 tackles and three sacks, Williams earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors. He also spearheaded the Tiger defense into the top 10 nationally in several defensive categories.
LSU enters the Ole Miss contest with the nation’s fourth-best scoring defense (13.8 ppg). The Tigers are also No. 9 in total defense, having allowed on average just 294.4 yards per contest. Opponents have only managed one touchdown on the squad over the last 12 quarters.
Offensively, JaMarcus Russell engineered a game-winning drive for the fourth time this season. Russell connected with Dwayne Bowe on an 11-yard touchdown strike to cap his 16-of-30, 229-yard, 1-TD performance against the Crimson Tide.
On the season, Russell is 12 yards shy of eclipsing the 2,000-yard mark, while throwing 12 touchdown passes. The Mobile, Ala., native has fired at least one touchdown in seven consecutive games.
“He understands what he needs to do (as quarterback) and performs well under pressure,” Miles said of Russell. “He is a very competitive player and wants to win. He has the confidence of this team.”
On the ground, the re-emergence of running back Justin Vincent (39.3 ypg) last weekend at Alabama along with the services of Joseph Addai (74.2 ypg) are critical as the season winds down.
Statistically, the Rebels have maintained a tough defense despite their 3-6 overall record. Ole Miss ranks in the top 25 nationally in total defense (303.9 ypg), scoring defense (18.9 ppg) and passing defense (185.0 ypg).
“This is a very capable Ole Miss team that had Alabama on the ropes in their stadium,” added Miles. “They have a talented defense. We’re going to go into a hostile environment for the second week in a row and have to play good football and play better to improve.”
The Rebels offensive chances hinge strongly upon quarterbacks Ethan Flatt and Michael Spurlock after losing the services of freshman running back Mico McSwain due to an injury he sustained last week against Arkansas.
“Flatt threw 37 times and completed 20 of them for 300 yards,” said Miles. “Spurlock is a very talented, very mobile guy. I saw him throw the foot ball pretty well early on this year. Both are very capable guys and we’ll prepare for their best.”
Recent meetings between the two have rekindled one of the most storied rivalries in the SEC. Each team has seen its chance of winning the contest in the fourth quarter. Last season, LSU used a school-record 250 yards rushing by Alley Broussard to overcome a fourth-quarter deficit and beat the Rebels, 27-24, in Tiger Stadium.
It marked the third-straight year that the game had been decided by a fourth-quarter touchdown. The average of margin of victory in the last three games of the series has been 2.3 points.
In a rivalry that has seen Billy Cannon’s 1959 Halloween run and Bert Jones’s 1972 pass to Brad Davis, LSU added another storied memory to its collection with a 17-14 win in Oxford in 2003. That victory vaulted the Tigers to the SEC Championship and set the tone for the rest of the season that ended in the school’s first national championship since 1958.
LSU closes the regular season at home against Arkansas next Friday, Nov. 25. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on CBS.