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BILOXI, Miss., Nov 13, 2009 (McClatchy Newspapers - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- Mississippi has played Tennessee just four times since the Southeastern Conference expanded to 12 teams and implemented a league championship game in 1992. They didn't win any of them, and only once, a 21-17 defeat in 2004, did the Rebels come close.

Ole Miss gets a shot at the Vols and bowl eligibility on Saturday in a nationally televised game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., and what's more, the 11 a.m. CST contest features the return of former Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron in Tennessee orange as an assistant coach.

Ole Miss (6-3, 2-3 in the SEC) needs the kind of effort it got last month against Arkansas, when the Rebels rolled 31-17 in Oxford. They played poorly the next week at Auburn, losing 33-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Vaught-Hemingway was reportedly less than half full for last week's drubbing of Northern Arizona, the Rebs' second FCS opponent this season.

The main story line, however, will be the Rebels' upperclassmen getting a chance to play against their former coach, the always-intense Orgeron, who won just three SEC games in as many seasons at Ole Miss before he was fired after the 2007 season.

"There's a big difference," said senior wideout/tailback Dexter McCluster, referring to Orgeron's style and that of his successor, second-year Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt. "We're almost winding down this season, and everybody is very healthy and feeling good. (Orgeron) was hardcore. He wanted to get after it and hit (in practice) every day. Sometimes you could get beat up, and me, being a lot smaller (5-foot-8, 165 pounds), taking those beatings, it was hard for me to stay healthy."

Tennessee (5-4, 2-3) has been rocked by the news that three of their more celebrated freshmen _ wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson, safety Janzen Jackson and defensive back Mike Edwards _ were arrested early Thursday morning for attempted robbery in Knoxville. The school announced Friday that the three players would not play against Ole Miss.

On Thursday, Lane Kiffin, the Vols' outspoken first-year coach, said, "We're gathering all the information so we don't know exactly what happened... We'll deal with the information as it comes in."

Orgeron wasn't talking about his impending return to Oxford, either, but Kiffin offered, "If you've ever been fired before, if you ever went back to the place you were at, it's going to be a big deal."

Ole Miss is a 5-point favorite, even though the Vols arguably have played better over the last month or so. They beat Georgia and South Carolina at home and took third-ranked Alabama to the absolute limit before losing 12-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

McCluster, the guy who makes the Rebels' offense go, admits Ole Miss has a special incentive with Orgeron on the opposite sideline.

"Different people might think different ways about it," he said. "Everybody is excited about it, eager to go out and show him what we've become."

The Rebs have lost 12 straight to Tennessee, last winning in 1983.

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