Ole Miss to stick with QB Schaeffer

JACKSON, Miss. - Coach Ed Orgeron has decided to stick with Brent Schaeffer at quarterback after pondering his team&#39;s situation following Mississippi&#39;s listless loss to Wake Forest.<br> <br> The coach didn&#39;t back off his evaluation of the junior quarterback during his Monday news conference. But after watching film of the 27-3 loss, he saw Schaeffer&#39;s poor performance as a team effort.<br> <br> He cited Schaeffer&#39;s decision-making, imprecise routes run by wide receivers, pressure allowed by the offensive line, an inability to run the ball and even the Rebels defense giving up too many points.<br> <br> In the last three games all losses he said the Rebels had to abandon their offense in an attempt to catch up with the opponent. That trend will likely continue as No. 10 Georgia (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) comes to Oxford if Ole Miss (1-3, 0-1) can&#39;t find a way to strengthen its defense.<br> <br> ``That&#39;s the defense&#39;s fault,&#39;&#39; Orgeron said of turning exclusively to the pass. ``We have to keep the game a lot closer so we can run our offense. We get in predicaments where they can rush the quarterback. We gave up five sacks (against Wake Forest) and we&#39;re not very good at protecting the quarterback right now.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Orgeron stopped short of declaring Schaeffer the starter against Georgia on Saturday after Seth Adams had some success moving the team against Wake Forest&#39;s backup defenders on the Rebels&#39; final drive. But he quickly stopped a budding quarterback controversy before it had a chance to take root.<br> <br> Schaeffer, a junior-college transfer, hasn&#39;t been the only Rebel struggling. Orgeron was disappointed in his entire team&#39;s effort against Wake Forest, as were many of the players. They felt the Demon Deacons were a team they should have been competitive with, even after taking a whipping in which Wake Forest ran the ball on 53 of 58 plays.<br> <br> ``They were not overwhelming at all,&#39;&#39; offensive lineman Thomas Eckers said. ``They didn&#39;t even do anything we weren&#39;t expecting. The only difference is they came out to play and we didn&#39;t.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Orgeron agrees and thinks a more competitive atmosphere in practice might help, though he&#39;s worried an already fragile team could be exposed to more injuries.<br> <br> ``We&#39;re going to try and create some drills that bring out the competitive nature in our players and see how they handle it,&#39;&#39; Orgeron said. ``We have to be careful doing that and not lose a player in practice. It&#39;s a fine line on how hard you practice. We&#39;re very thin on the offensive and defensive lines. We don&#39;t want to lose another lineman.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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