OXFORD &045; Is this deja vu all over again?

Weren’t we just here with another key college football game involving a Mississippi team this week?

You recall 10th-ranked Texas Christian strutting into Hattiesburg with its mind perhaps more on a perfect season and a Bowl Championship Series berth rather than the Conference USA title up for grabs.

You saw how Southern Miss treated the Horned Frogs as if they had leprosy in a 40-28 thrashing.

Now No. 3 LSU (9-1, 5-1) hops the charter for Oxford with national championship dreams dancing in its head.

Could the hubbub over a sweet New Year’s date with dominant Oklahoma at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans be enough for LSU to overlook No. 15 Ole Miss (8-2, 6-0) with the Southeastern Conference West title on the line?

&uot;We’re playing for us. If we win we go to the SEC championship and a big bowl,&uot; Rebel cornerback and ex-Cathedral star Von Hutchins said. &uot;We’ve got to come out and play hard and not let the hoopla take away from our focus on the game and be ready to play.&uot;

The biggest game in north central Mississippi in half a century. A rekindling of a folk rivalry with even more mythical characters. A shootout to determine the outlaws of the West.

Pencil in your own storyline because this contest is busting at the seams with them like your uncle after Christmas dinner.

Can the last offspring of a dirt road Mississippi football hero lead his team to the school’s first trip to Atlanta’s SEC Championship game since the conference spilt in 1992 against the nation’s top scoring defense (8.9 points per game)?

&uot;Right now we are in that opportunity but we still have some big games left and it starts with LSU this week,&uot; Ole Miss quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Eli Manning said. &uot;I think it has been a fun season, a good season for us. But obviously it can be a lot better with a win.&uot;

It will not be a roll in the hay.

LSU’s stingy defense has allowed only Louisiana Tech to rush for more than 100 yards this year and only Georgia’s David Greene eclipsed 300 yards passing against the Tigers &045; and that was in a Bulldog loss.

Eli Manning, son of former Rebel and New Orleans Saint great Archie and brother to ex-Tennessee and current Indianapolis Colt Peyton, has been brilliant in throwing for close to 3,000 yards (2,881), completing 62.8 of his 347 passes and maintaining a near-3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (23-8).

&uot;There is no doubt that Eli Manning is one of the top quarterbacks in the country and no question one of the couple of guys who should receive the highest consideration to win the Heisman Trophy,&uot; LSU head coach Nick Saban said at his weekly Monday press conference.

But Hutchins, who ranks fourth on the team with 50 tackles (33 solo) and is tied for the team lead in interceptions (3), must worry about his senior pal’s counterpart.

Tiger playcaller Matt Mauck has not thrown for as many yards (2,175) as Manning, but is more accurate (65.4) and his 154.14 efficiency rating is more than four points better than the Rebel senior’s.

LSU loves to extend the field vertically; however, it is not as often as the Rebel offense. What Mauck and the Tigers execute so well are screens, dumps and dinks. Particularly, the bubble screen that allows LSU’s speed and strength to be highlighted.

&uot;Basically it’s a long handoff,&uot; Hutchins said of the route that sees multiple receivers line up on one side, as the other wideouts block for the first option. &uot;They try to put the ball in their playmakers’ hands. It means we’ve got to tackle well or turn everything back to the inside where the help is.&uot;

Due to meltdowns in a Texas Tech loss and near-miracle comebacks from Vanderbilt and South Carolina, Hutchins and the Ole Miss secondary corps have drawn a lot of criticism for their play.

Even Rebel defensive coordinator Chuck Dreisbach laid the hammer on the ex-Green Wave quarterback several days after Ole Miss’ pass defense &045; currently ranked 116th out of 117 teams in Divison-I &045; yielded 26 unanswered points in a 43-40 win over South Carolina on the first of the month.

&uot;It’s a give and take at the cornerback position. You’re on an island out there,&uot; Hutchins said. &uot;Everyone notices your mistakes. If a defensive back blows a coverage everybody knows it. I don’t let it get me down. I hope this game I make more plays than I give up.&uot;

He and the rest of the blue-and-red faithful.