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About to get on the road to Fresno shortly. -
Where: Bulldog Stadium, Fresno, Calif.
Kickoff: 8:15 p.m.
Television: ESPN2
Radio: Ole Miss Network, XM 200; Sirius 219.
Records: Ole Miss 1-3, 0-1 SEC, Fresno State 2-2, 1-0 WAC
Series: Ole Miss leads 1-0.
Coaches: Fresno State – Pat Hill, 110-73 15th season at Fresno State and overall. Ole Miss – Houston Nutt 134-89 19th season; 23-19 fourth season at Ole Miss.
Statistical Leaders: FRESNO – RB Robbie Rouse 105-477, 3 TD; QB Derek Carr 76-for-128 passing 1,010 yards, 9 TD, 3 INT; WR Rashad Evans 21 catches, 184 yards, 1 TD; LB Travis Brown 30 tackles; DT Logan Harrell 26 tackles, 8.5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks. Ole Miss – RB Jeff Scott 44-212, 3 TD; QB Zack Stoudt, 47-for-93 passing, 469 yards, 6 INT, 2 TD; WR Ja-Mes Logan 13 catches, 164 yards, 0 TD; LB Mike Marry 42 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2 sacks.
Trends: Ole Miss last won a road game in Week 2 of 2010. … The Rebels are 10-5 in their last 15 non-conference road games and have won three of their last four.
Notes: Ole Miss will be playing in California for the first time. … Ole Miss previously faced another California team, Long Beach State, which the Rebels defeated 29-13 in Jackson in 1971. ... Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt is 6-3 against WAC opponents. … Boise State was a member of the Big West, not the WAC, when Nutt coached there. … Aside from WAC member Louisiana Tech, four other teams from east of the Mississippi River have played at Fresno: Cincinnati, Illinois, Wisconsin and Toledo.
Prediction: Fresno State 23, Ole Miss 13
Randall Mackey started at quarterback and has gone the distance. With three touchdowns in the first half it doesn't look like there will be two quarterbacks in this game, but sometimes things change. Hopefully not for the Rebels this game. They've looked pretty good on offense.
Mackey has missed some open receivers, but has made some big completions too, like a nice pass on the fade to Melvin Harris for the touchdown.
Brandon Bolden has looked like the Bolden of last year. It's clear Nutt is trying to limit his touches and keep him fresh. Bolden has 3 carries for 33 yards and touchdown runs of 21 and 12 yards. He has shown good lateral movement and acceleration. On his second touchdown, the 12-yarder, Bolden ran right, then cut left and broke two tackles before he got the corner and reached the end zone.
Defense has been another story. Derek Carr has completed 13 of 19 passes, and little Robbie Rouse, bottled up last year in Oxford, has 79 yards on 16 carries. Fresno line is getting a good surge and Ole Miss has missed tackles.
Ole Miss has made some big plays, stopping a Fresno drive with Charles Sawyer's interception of a tipped ball and Aaron Garbutt's recovery of a Rouse fumble that set up Bolden's second TD.
Rebels also got a big stop inside the 10 when Ralph Williams broke through for a sack, and Fresno ended up missing a 32-yard field goal on the drive.
Fresno has outgained Ole Miss 264-203 at the half.
So for print, we'll have a game story and notebook but also a look at the significance for Fresno State of having an SEC team play here.
Ole Miss specialists are on the field warming up now.
Beautiful weather and off in the distance I can see Yosemite National Park.
I'll update here at halftime and again after the game.
I'll also have live updates on Twitter @parrishalford. The feed is on the right side of this page.
PA please watch where you take your family out there - but enjoy and hopeful a very good time.
JB
And thanks to you as well. If I'm not mistaken your uniform service was much longer in duration - I came out of the AF after one hitch to go back to college. I first attended a college football game at at age 27. while at Ole Miss - barely knew a first down from a fumble. Many might say I've learned litle since then. We have both AF & Mississippi cotton fields in common. Good luck to the Rebs.
JB