Success in Oxford, Miss., is not a foreign concept to the LSU football team.The last time Ole Miss (7-3, 3-3) defeated LSU (8-2, 4-2) at home was Halloween Day 1998. Since then, the Tigers have a four-game winning streak at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.  But this year’s game presents a more daunting task for the Tigers than some previous matchups.”This Ole Miss team is a very, very talented team,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “[Ole Miss] coach [Houston] Nutt does a great job preparing them.”The feature players in the ’98 game were LSU running back Kevin Faulk and Ole Miss’ running back Deuce McAllister. The Rebels defeated the Tigers, 37-31, in overtime. The Rebels were not led by McAllister, but instead by quarterback Romero Miller, who threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns. LSU trailed the game, 31-10, at the beginning of the fourth quarter before rallying to tie the game on a pass from quarterback Herb Tyler to running back Rondell Mealey with two seconds to play in regulation. In overtime, the Rebels scored on their first offensive play. On the Tigers’ offensive possession, they drove to the Rebel 4-yard line before Tyler’s pass on fourth-and-goal fell incomplete.Following that fateful October afternoon, the Tigers began a streak of dominance in Oxford.In 2000, the Tigers beat the Rebels, 20-9, behind LSU running back Dominic Davis’ 160 all purpose yards and two touchdowns. The 2003 game, which LSU won 17-14 en route to a national championship, is remembered simply by the phrase, “Eli fell down.”  With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Ole Miss senior quarterback Eli Manning, playing in his final home game, dropped back to pass on a fourth-and-ten.  As he received the snap from under center, Manning dropped back and was tripped up by his own offensive lineman.  The fall secured the victory and the eventual Southeastern Conference Western Division title for LSU. The next two games in 2005 and 2007 were routs, with LSU winning 40-7 and 41-24 respectively.But this weekend’s game may prove to be a stiffer challenge for the Tigers with the Rebels’ recent offensive success.Ole Miss found a groove offensively during its 42-17 win against Tennessee last Saturday. The catalyst of that offensive outburst was senior offensive specialist Dexter McCluster, who lines up at both wide receiver, running back and even quarterback for the Rebels.McCluster had 324 all purpose yards — tallying 282 of those on the ground — and four touchdowns against the Volunteers.”I can just tell you that he has great speed,” Miles said. “He’s tough to touch, and he’s a physical runner as well. He’ll pound it up in there, so he’s a very talented runner.”The biggest challenge for the LSU defense will be to contain McCluster when he lines up at quarterback in Ole Miss’ version of the “Wildcat” offense, called the “Wild Rebel.””We just have to make tackles early and don’t let him get in a lot of space because that’s when he takes off,” said LSU junior safety Chad Jones. “If we get all 11 of us to the ball and corner him, we’ll be able to contain him,”The respect between the LSU defense and McCluster is mutual, though.”LSU’s defense is physical, big and fast,” McCluster said. “They’ll be a tough opponent, and we have to have everybody doing what they need to do on every play.”Offensively, Miles said senior running back Keiland Williams will get an opportunity to be the feature back, but will still share some of the carries with sophomore running back Stevan Ridley.”I felt like Keiland Williams and Stevan Ridley came back to replace Charles Scott and did so in a very strong fashion,” Miles said. “I think they understand the position they’re in and look forward to playing big certainly in these next games.”The Tiger offense appears to be healthy, as well.Miles said Wednesday that sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson will return to the field after missing the Louisiana Tech game with an ankle injury, sophomore center T-Bob Hebert and senior tight end Richard Dickson will also play after missing time with injuries, according to Miles.Following last season’s 31-13 loss to Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium, Jones said the team went into a tailspin, and they do not want a repeat of that this season.”Last year, we kind of sunk,” Jones said. “But we’re standing strong this year, I believe, and we’re going to fight out to the end like we would if we had an undefeated season.”—-Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]