Football
21y

Mississippi, Texas Tech prepare for shootout

OXFORD, Miss. -- Eli Manning wants revenge against Texas
Tech. And the Mississippi quarterback will get his shot Saturday
night.

The Red Raiders (2-1) travel to Oxford to face Ole Miss (2-1)
and Manning, who is looking to avenge a 42-28 loss in Lubbock last
season.

"I have been looking forward to this game for some time," said
Manning, who threw for 374 yards, three touchdowns and one
interception in last year's game.

"Last year we came into Lubbock and I threw an interception for
a touchdown. I did not play very well at first," he said. "We had
some mistakes. I think we kind of wanted to play them again. We
wanted to have them come here and have another shot at trying to
win a game."

If the Rebels are going to beat Texas Tech, they will have to
slow down the nation's best pass offense. The Red Raiders are
averaging 439.3 passing yards and 40.3 points per game. Ole Miss
ranks 116th in the nation against the pass at 331.3 yards per game.

Defensive back Tavarus Horne and defensive tackle McKinley
Boykin could return from injuries to provide depth for the Rebels.
Ole Miss may need all the depth it can get.

"I think everybody realizes the yards they threw for last week
and what they are capable of doing," Ole Miss coach David
Cutcliffe said. "They are a well-coached team in every phase of
the game. They just had some things go against them, got behind,
and couldn't catch up against North Carolina State. It's phenomenal
what they are able to do with the ball."

Texas Tech's first-year starting quarterback B.J. Symons threw
for a school and Big 12 record 586 yards in a loss at North
Carolina State last Saturday.

"Everybody has tried all different type of things (to stop
them) with no success," Cutcliffe said. "Symons is extremely
accurate, and they've got outstanding receivers. They just have
weapons and they use them all as well as any team in the country."

Ole Miss has some weapons of its own.

The Rebels rank 10th in the nation in pass offense with 318
yards per game.

Ole Miss has a lot of offensive firepower, Manning said, but the
Rebels can't think about how many points they need to win or be
drawn into a shootout.

"You can't play the game trying to figure out how many points
you need to score. You never know in college football how many
points you have to score to win," Manning said.

"It could be a 10-7 game. You never know what the game is going
to be like and how the defenses will play," he said. "You have to
see early on what kind of game it will be and decide how your team
is going to play the game based on that."

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