Defense helps Mississippi to win over Memphis

Linebacker Garry Pack intercepted Hudgens’ pass at the goal line with about 15 seconds left to help Mississippi hold off Memphis 10-6 on Monday for the Rebels’ first victory under new coach Ed Orgeron. For Pack, a sophomore, it was his first career interception.

“It was just a bad throw,” Hudgens said. “I should have thrown it away. It wasn’t there. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Orgeron, the former Southern California defensive line coach, took over the Rebels after David Cutcliffe was let go following a 4-7 season. It was defense that helped him gain his first victory as a college coach.

“I’d liked for the offense to have scored a couple of more points,” Orgeron said. “We need to win it anyway we can. That’s where we’re at right now, and I’m really proud of the way our defense played.”

Micheal Spurlock was 14-of-27 for 184 yards with one interception and had a 12-yard, fourth-down touchdown run in the third quarter for Mississippi in the opener for both teams. The scoring drive was set up by Hudgens’ other interception, by Trumaine McBride at the Tiger 17.

“I know my legs can get me out of trouble sometimes,” Spurlock said. “(The touchdown play) wasn’t designed that way. …I saw it open on the backside, and I just ran and tried to make a play.”

Memphis reached the Ole Miss 37 on its next-to-last drive, but Rebels safety Charles Clark recovered receiver Maurice Avery’s fumble with 2:37 to play.

“We had two critical mistakes in the second half, and Ole Miss took advantage of it,” Memphis coach Tommy West said. “We had the (interception), and you have to give them credit for taking advantage and getting a touchdown off of it. Then we made a mistake of fumbling the ball, and you can’t do that.”

The Rebels limited Tigers star DeAngelo Williams to 85 yards on 24 carries and allowed only 119 yards rushing overall.

“He’s hard to stop,” Orgeron said. “We overloaded the box and took some chances. … We had to tackle really well. Watching him on film, he made a lot of people miss.”

Memphis led 6-3 at the half.

Hudgens took over the Memphis offense after starting quarterback Patrick Byrne broke his right leg on the Tigers’ third play from scrimmage in his first start. Byrne, a junior, handled kickoffs his first two seasons but moved into the starting QB slot after the graduation of Danny Wimprine.

On Hudgens’ first drive, he set up Stephen Gostkowski’s 34-yard field goal that tied it at 3-3. Gostkowski added a 47-yarder in the second quarter.

Spurlock completed nine of his 13 first-half passes and kept the Rebels moving. Most of those connections in the first half were to Mario Hill, who caught six passes for 102 yards before the break. Hill finished with eight catches for 132 yards.

But Ole Miss couldn’t capitalize in the first half, managing only Matt Hinkle’s 35-yard field goal on its opening series.

Before the game, the crowd stood for a moment of silence for the Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina. Both teams have a number of players from the area devastated by last week’s storm, and Orgeron is from south of New Orleans. Some players don’t know about all of their family members. Others are sure their homes are destroyed.

“I told the team we can give them three hours of something to cheer for and something positive,” Orgeron said of the Gulf Coast victims. “That’s what we set out to do.”