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Mississippi Handles Louisiana-Monroe, Captures Opener, 31-3

Defense sets the tone before crowd of 58,151.

Aug 31, 2002

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By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP Sports Writer

OXFORD, Miss. - Robert Williams ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns, and Mississippi didn't need a big game from Eli Manning to begin the season with a 31-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night.

Playing in front of a record-breaking crowd at newly expanded Vaught-Hemingway stadium, the Rebels won their seventh straight opener. Ole Miss has outscored its last three opening-day opponents 129-37.

Manning started the game 0-for-5 with an interception and took awhile to find his mark. The junior finished 17-for-31 for 192 yards, but he often missed his receivers. At one point in the third quarter, he threw seven straight incompletions.

Manning did extend his school-record streak of games with a touchdown pass to 13 by connecting with Bill Flowers on a 26-yarder in the second quarter that put the Rebels up 7-3.

With their star struggling, Ole Miss relied on its running game and defense to put away the Indians, who were 31-point underdogs.

Williams was making his first career start after backing up Deuce McAllister and Joe Gunn for three years. The senior had a career game, carrying 18 times and scoring on runs of 1 and 4 yards in the second quarter as the Rebels built a 21-3 halftime lead.

Manning finally found his form in the fourth quarter, completing 7 of 8 for 68 yards on the final drive he played. Ronald McClendon capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown that increased the lead to 31-3 with 10:42 left.

The Indians, meanwhile, continued to take their lumps from the Southeastern Conference. They are 2-16 against the SEC since moving to Division I-A in 1994, including 14 straight losses. The last three have been particularly brutal, with the Indians getting outscored 156-12 by Tennessee, Florida and Ole Miss.

Bryant Jacobs ran 23 times for 103 yards, accounting for much of the Indians' offense against the Rebels' new 4-2-5 defense.

Ole Miss added to two other streaks, winning their 23rd consecutive regular-season non-conference game and 15th straight home opener.

The crowd of 58,151 was about 2,000 below capacity, but still good enough to surpass the previous best of 52,476, set against LSU in 2000.