Rebels present challenge to Tigers

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - LSU has more than Eli Manning to worry about this week. <br> <br> The way the Tigers defense has fallen against the run lately, the Mississippi ground game may give Manning the extra dimension he needs Saturday. <br> <br> The Tigers lost their ability to stop the run over the last two games, giving up 454 yards on the ground, including 300 to Alabama in a 31-0 loss last week. <br> <br> That has to be happy news for Mississippi, which is last in the SEC and 104th in the nation in rushing. <br> <br> ``The first thing you have to do on defense is stop the run,&#39;&#39; LSU coach Nick Saban said. ``Any time you don&#39;t do that, it&#39;s a concern, and I&#39;m very disappointed. In the last couple of games, we haven&#39;t done a good job of that. We&#39;re not physical enough up front, and we have to play with discipline.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> LSU (7-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference), which had the No. 1 defense overall before allowing Alabama to gain 477 yards, has fallen to 40th in run defense. <br> <br> Mississippi (5-5, 2-4) was expected to build its ground game around Robert Williams. That didn&#39;t work out when Williams missed four games with injuries. He was kicked off the team last week for violating a team rule, leaving the Rebels with a committee of running backs. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got Tremaine Turner, Vashon Pearson and Ronald McClendon,&#39;&#39; Mississippi coach David Cutcliffe said. ``Depending on what happens in practice and who&#39;s the healthiest, that&#39;s what we&#39;ll base the decision on. All will play if they are healthy or unless someone gets hot early.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> This is LSU&#39;s final game at home this season. If that&#39;s not inspiration enough, the Tigers can secure a return to the Southeastern Conference championship game if they beat Mississippi and Arkansas the next week. <br> <br> ``We have to be more physical,&#39;&#39; said LSU safety Norman LeJeune. ``We have to come out and hit them in the mouth from the first play of the game to the last play. We can&#39;t have those breakdowns we had last week.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Ole Miss, which brings a 4-game losing streak into Tiger Stadium, is averaging 102.3 yards rushing per game. But in six SEC games, the figure drops to 60.8 yards per game. <br> <br> The Rebels have been tough for LSU, winning four of the last five games, including a 35-24 victory last year in Baton Rouge Ole Miss&#39; third straight win against LSU on the Tigers&#39; home field. <br> <br> Mississippi center Ben Claxton isn&#39;t sure why the Rebels seem to play so well at LSU, but he thinks the tradition between the two schools, who have played 91 times, has something to do with it. <br> <br> ``I can&#39;t put a finger on just one thing,&#39;&#39; Claxton said. ``It&#39;s obviously a huge rivalry between these two schools and it&#39;s always a tremendous game for us and one you always look at when the schedule comes out. There always been a good team since I&#39;ve been here and there is so much tradition between the two teams.&#39;&#39;

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