College Football
Thursday, December 30
Rebels have challenge in Oklahoma
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi head football coach David Cutcliffe was working 18-hour days and battling an inflamed pancreas to get his Rebels ready for the Independence Bowl a year ago.

The aching pancreas is gone.

Other things are also slightly different this season.

Ole Miss (7-4) is in the Independence Bowl again, but Cutcliffe doesn't have to win with an unfamiliar team and a playbook filled with offensive terminology left by a previous coach.

"The difference in last year and this year is a 180 degrees," said Cutcliffe, who made his debut in 1998 bowl game after Tommy Tuberville left for Auburn.

"About a year ago, we were scrambling at everything we did. Our entire staff and squad had a great sense of urgency. What we have to do is maintain that same sense of urgency this year."

Ole Miss beat favored Texas Tech, 35-18, last year. Oklahoma (7-4), which is making its first bowl trip since 1994, will face the Rebels on Dec. 31.

Cutcliffe was offensive coordinator at Tennessee, and a Vols assistant for 16 years, before being introduced as Mississippi's coach on Dec. 2, 1998. He returned to coach his final game at Tennessee, a 24-14 victory over Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference Championship.

Instead of turning his attention to the Fiesta Bowl and Florida State, however, Cutcliffe took over at Ole Miss after Tuberville resigned.

But working long hours to get the Rebels ready to face Texas Tech took a toll on Cutcliffe.

An inflammation of his pancreas required a four-night hospital stay and delayed Cutcliffe's arrival in Shreveport by a day. While out of the hospital, he still experienced intense pain in both his stomach and back.

"It was a very difficult time being in the hospital wondering whether I could even go to the bowl game just having taken the job," said Cutcliffe, whose diet included only IVs during the hospital stay.

"It was as emotional time as I have ever gone through. I had a lot of support from family and friends and that's how I made it through it. Thank goodness I was able to make it to Shreveport."

Ole Miss won despite have only about 15 practice sessions with Cutcliffe. There was not enough time for a total overhaul of the playbook.

"We had to put our offense in so what we did was use their words and their terminology, but our plays," Cutcliffe said.

"Our challenge was to teach parts of the offense, but we were very restrictive of how much we could put in. This year is so different. What we have to do is to play better than we did at the end of the year. That's our challenge."

Ole Miss ended the season with a 20-17 loss at home against Georgia and 23-20 loss at Mississippi State on Thanksgiving night. Oklahoma will be a difficult challenge for the Rebels, Cutcliffe said.

Sooners quarterback Josh Heupel threw for a Big 12 Conference-record 3,460 yards passing and 30 touchdowns to lead Oklahoma's potent offense. The Sooners' passing game ranks ninth nationally.

"I think Oklahoma is an outstanding team. The quarterback, receivers, and backs are outstanding," Cutcliffe said.

"They have a lot of weapons and they use them well. An area of concern for us is on defense. We are going to have to play probably our best game to be successful on that side of the ball."

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