Nutt takes nothing for granted
It was one of the turning points in Ed Orgeron’s third and final season with the Ole Miss Rebels.
A crowd of less than 24,000 turned out for the Rebels’ final non-conference game last year at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, a November game in a season gone awry against Division I-AA Northwestern (La.) State.
The Demons scored twice in the final eight minutes to throw a scare into Ole Miss, which held on for a 38-31 victory. Three weeks later, Orgeron was fired after Mississippi State stunned the Rebels 17-14 in Starkville. Ole Miss failed to win an SEC game for the first time since 1982.
Houston Nutt has wasted little time in instilling a different mind-set at Ole Miss in his first 10 months or so on the job. The Rebels whipped Memphis on opening night and took No. 20 Wake Forest to the limit last week on the road, losing 30-28 on Sam Shank’s 41-yard field goal with three seconds left.
Ole Miss (1-1) gets a chance to stay on track for SEC play tonight against Division I-AA Samford at Vaught-Hemingway. It’s the first football matchup between Ole Miss and the Birmingham school. And Nutt is taking nothing for granted.
sunherald.com
9/13/08
