Johnson, Nutt discuss opponents

It's the biggest game of the season so far for both teams as Vanderbilt travels to Ole Miss on Saturday to take on the much-improved Rebels. On Monday Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson and first-year head coach Houston Nutt discussed their next opponents with the media. NOTE: There will be no live telecast of the Vandy-Ole Miss game.

Nutt complimented Vanderbilt's defense and specifically mentioned Reshard Langford, "Defensively, they have given up very little and are very sound. They’re a really hard-hitting secondary, especially number 33. He will hit you. D.J. Moore, boy he’s good. They’ve got 300-pounders in the middle up front and have 6-foot-5 guys on the edges."

Nutt, who is 2-1 in his first season with Ole Miss after leaving Arkansas last year, also complimented Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson, "I’m a big Bobby Johnson fan, and I know the kind of work that he does. He started way back when, and you can just see improvement each year. I think this is one of his better years, besides when he had Cutler at the helm."

Bobby Johnson was equally complimentary of Nutt and believes he has made them a better football team, "I think Coach Nutt brings an attitude of toughness and efficiency in offense to Mississippi. I think he has made them so much better. You can see so far this year that they have taken care of the ball and play hard in all phases of the game."

Ole Miss has a new face behind center this season. After three game quarterback Jevan Snead has completed 43 of 77 passes for 660 yards and 6 touchdowns. Snead transferred to Ole Miss from Texas after the 2006 season and sat out 2007 per NCAA rules. Johnson talked about Snead, "He has delivered for them. He is a quarterback that can throw the ball and that is one thing we didn't have to worry a lot about last year when we played them. Snead gives them a big play opportunity on play-action passes. Overall, I have been very impressed with his consistency and how they have used him."

Johnson and Nutt are 1-1 versus each other. Vanderbilt won at Arkansas in 2005 while Arkansas won at Vanderbilt in 2006. Saturday's kickoff is at 6 p.m. The game will not be telecast live but will be aired on a taped-delay basis on CSS on Sunday, Sept. 21 (1 p.m.)