OXFORD — Houston Nutt’s tenure as the University of Mississippi football coach will end in three weeks.
The fourth-year coach was forced to resign Monday, effective at the end of the season, but he will stay on for the last three games of the season. It’s been a dismal fall for the Rebels, who are 2-7 and 0-6 in the Southeastern Conference.
They are in the midst of a program record 12-game conference losing streak.
The losses cost Nutt his job, but he said he stayed on to set a good example.
“You’re going to get knocked down. That’s all right,” Nutt said. “You may get knocked down again. That’s alright. You’ve got to get back up. Things may not be the way we want them to be right now, but let’s finish and let’s go play the best homecoming game we have ever played.”
Ole Miss hosts Louisiana Tech (5-4) at 6:30 p.m. today (CSS) at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in a homecoming game that doesn’t feature a typical opponent. The Bulldogs have nearly beaten several good teams this season, including Houston, Southern Miss and Mississippi State, and are riding a four-game winning streak into Oxford.
The Rebels certainly shouldn’t expect any sympathy from Louisiana Tech.
“We don’t care about their situation and we just have to take care of business on our end and get our guys ready to play,” Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Dykes said. “This game is going to excite our players because anytime you go on the road to face an SEC team it is exciting. We want to see how we stack up against a Southeastern Conference team and our guys will be ready to play.”
Louisiana Tech’s Colby Cameron took over the starting quarterback job at midseason and had his best game last week, throwing for 376 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-21 victory over Fresno State. Ole Miss also played Fresno State earlier this season, winning 38-28 on Oct. 1.
Cameron and the Bulldogs will provide another challenge for the Ole Miss defense, which has struggled over the past month. An opposing offensive player has won an SEC player of the week award in each of the past four weeks. The latest was Kentucky’s freshman quarterback Maxwell Smith, who threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start.
The Ole Miss defense has been decimated by injuries, starting last spring when starting linebacker and team captain D.T. Shackelford was lost for the season because of a knee injury. This fall, the Rebels have also lost starting cornerback Marcus Temple and starting defensive end Wayne Dorsey to season-ending injuries.
For an Ole Miss defense that was already thin, the three losses have been devastating.
“Without great leadership, it’s tough to handle tough situations,” defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix said. “But the attitude of the kids has been great. I think they’ll keep competing. Our goal is to win.”
There are several promising young freshmen who will get plenty of playing time in the final three weeks. Linebackers Keith Lewis, Serderius Bryant and C.J. Johnson, defensive tackles Bryon Bennett and Carlton Martin and cornerbacks Senquez Golson and Nickolas Brassell will all be counted on to make plays.
Nix said the young players have responded well despite the uncertainty.
“It’s business as usual,” Nix said. “We tried to get better. We tried to teach. We try to communicate and tell the guys the game plan. They’ve seemed to have a positive attitude and all we can do at this point is play the last three games, starting with Louisiana Tech, and play our best.”
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