Cutcliffe wants to avoid let down

JOEY VAUGHAN
DM Sports Editor

After three straight SEC games, a contest with 0-5 Arkansas State could be a prime candidate for an Ole Miss letdown, but head coach David Cutcliffe said at his weekly press conference that he'll keep his team focused this week.

"We all pay attention to (potential letdowns) in the coaching profession," Cutcliffe said. "Conference games have that intensity for everybody. There's only 11 regular season games. Our team has to certainly be focused on Arkansas State, but focused on Ole Miss as well. I expect to see a very hungry football team on the practice field. If we go out there and work how we're supposed to work, we shouldn't anticipate any sort of letdown, particularly after they see Arkansas State on tape."

After being run over for 35 points by Auburn, the Rebel defense has stiffened, allowing only 24 points in the two games since. Cutcliffe said a variety of factors have contributed to the defense's improvement.

"First of all, some young players have grown up and played in some battles and gotten snaps that have made them better," Cutcliffe said. "We've made a real focus on communicating, being where we need to be when the ball is snapped, understanding what we're doing, and all the little things that you have to do to play well on defense. All those things are starting to come together."

The defense hasn't been the only area of the team that has played better, though. The receiving corps got larger contributions from a couple of new faces against Kentucky.

"Our wide receiver corps got much better this week," Cutcliffe said. "I had commented on that during preparation for the Kentucky game, and we got the production we needed."

On a weekend that saw upsets by Mississippi State and LSU, Ole Miss was one of few conference favorites that won as projected.

"I think it's typical of our conference now that in most of those games, either team could have won," Cutcliffe said. "There were a couple of lopsided scores, but any given day in our league, you've got 12 teams that are good enough to beat any of the other teams in the league."