Rebels set to collide with LSU
By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Nov. 17, 2003
OXFORD One of the South's oldest rivalries will heat up Saturday with a fury not seen in decades.
Just one win away from its first trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game, Ole Miss will face off against LSU for the 92nd time. The Rebels will pit the league's top scoring offense against the Tigers defense, which is the league leader in scoring defense.
Ole Miss leaped to No. 15 in this week's Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today rankings. Now five days away from a showdown with No. 3 LSU, Rebels head coach David Cutcliffe knows the attention of the college football world will be fixed upon the Rebels on Saturday.
It would be impossible for the Rebels, 8-2 overall, to overlook their upcoming visitors. Saturday will mark the first time since 1970 Archie Manning's senior season that the Rebels and Tigers (9-1, 5-1 SEC) have both been ranked at the time of their meeting.
Undefeated in Southeastern Conference play at 6-0, a win against LSU would give Ole Miss its first SEC West title. The Rebels would also earn a ninth win for just the third time in 30 years.
And a strong performance by Eli Manning, suddenly a serious contender for the Heisman Trophy, could vault the senior quarterback into the lead for college football's highest individual honor.
Manning is now generally considered one of the top three candidates for the award, along with Oklahoma quarterback Jason White and Pittsburgh wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. ESPN analyst Lee Corso said on Saturday he considers Manning the Heisman front-runner, while fellow commentator Kirk Herbstreit placed Manning second behind Fitzgerald.
The discussion does not faze Manning, who said he is more concerned with the Tigers than the Heisman.
A loss to LSU would not dash the Rebels' SEC West title hopes, but the Tigers would take control of their own destiny. Ole Miss would then need to beat Mississippi State and have Arkansas defeat LSU.
Manning, who beat LSU 35-24 in 2001 and lost 14-13 a year ago, is a native of New Orleans and has been around enough Ole Miss-LSU games to know the intensity that surrounds the rivalry.
