Its Official

Ole Miss and University of Memphis athletics officials announced Wednesday that they have agreed to move their September 3 season opener in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium to Monday, September 5, in order to accommodate a national telecast by ESPN.

"It's great to have Ole Miss and Memphis as part of our Labor Day programming," said ESPN's Dave Brown. "We are pleased to be able to show the head coaching debut of Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss and the return of Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams, who could have entered the National Football League draft early.

"We had a great game between Ole Miss and Memphis two years ago on ESPN2 and we had a full house at the Liberty Bowl."

The telecast will mark the fourth time for the series, which dates back to 1921, to be shown on TV. Jefferson Pilot Sports did the 1998 and 2002 games from Oxford. Dating back to 1952, it will also be the 144th national or regional appearance on television for Ole Miss. The Rebels were on TV four times last season. During the 1997, 1999, and 2001 seasons, Ole Miss had seven television contests each year, while the 2000 season saw a school-record eight appearances on TV.

"We are excited that ESPN chose the Ole Miss-Memphis game to be televised on Labor Day," said Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone.

Orgeron also expressed his approval of the opportunity to begin his head coaching career with a televised game.

"National exposure is important to our program," he said. "We expect our team to be on national television and Memphis will provide great competition. It should be an exciting game."

The Ole Miss-Memphis game is projected to start at 3:30 (Central) and will be part of the Conference USA television package, which it was two years ago. The game will also be part of a triple header being produced by ESPN and ABC. Miami and Florida State are scheduled for ABC following the Ole Miss-Memphis game on ESPN.