Ole Miss will give MU first real test

~ The Tigers are playing their first SEC school in 22 years.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- In his first career start at Missouri, Chase Daniel threw a school-record five touchdown passes and was named Big 12 offensive player of the week. Such production will be a lot more meaningful if he can keep it up against a school that's not in Division I-AA

In other words, the warmup is over for the Tigers, who play Mississippi today. They're not likely to repeat the dominance of the opener, when they had a 589-150 advantage in yardage against Murray State and didn't lose a shutout until the waning minutes.

The opener was a perfect, no-pressure break-in game for Daniel, a sophomore who is filling the large shoes of the departed Brad Smith. But even after such production, he knows there's room for improvement.

Daniel, already trying to lead, took responsibility for a sluggish third quarter.

"The quarterback has to always take the blame for the sloppiness that the offense shows, and it was pretty sloppy," Daniel said. "We can't have that against an SEC team like Ole Miss.

"That stuff is going to get you beat."

Ole Miss won its opener over Memphis. The Rebels, coming off a 3-8 record in Ed Orgeron's first year as coach, will be Missouri's first opponent from the SEC since 1984.

Missouri and Ole Miss will meet for the first time since 1979.

"A very impressive team," coach Gary Pinkel said. "They played almost a flawless game. It will be a great challenge for us."

The opening win for Missouri, which has 19 starters back from the Independence Bowl victory over South Carolina, was never in doubt. Week 2 has been a different story in recent seasons for the Tigers, who lost to New Mexico last year and spoiled a No. 19 rating with a 10-point setback at Troy in 2004.

Early season losses have hampered Missouri in each of Pinkel's first five years, also including setbacks to Bowling Green in 2001 and 2002.

Mississippi had 240 yards rushing in a 28-25 victory over Memphis. BenJarvus Green-Ellis had 127 yards and two touchdowns and freshman Dexter McCluster had 268 all-purpose yards in his debut.

The Rebels' best player is linebacker Patrick Willis, the only unanimous selection to the preseason all-SEC team by league coaches and media, after leading the nation with nine solo tackles per game last season.

"Willis certainly is an outstanding player," Pinkel said. "Great foot speed, very smart. He's everywhere on the field."

But Orgeron, who made a number of coaching changes on offense after last season, wasn't pleased with anything on that side of the ball in the opener. He's worried about shoring up the problems against Missouri, which runs a spread attack similar to that of Memphis.

"We had a really poor day on defense," Orgeron said. "We're going to have to change a couple of things. The scheme will not change, we'll just have to do it better."

Missouri defensive end Xzavie Jackson returns to the lineup this week after serving a disciplinary suspension. Stryker Sulak started the opener.

"When a player comes back off of suspension, he'll go back to where he was," Pinkel said. "He's excited about being back and we're excited about having him back."