OXFORD, Miss. -- Mississippi was home to some of the best college football teams in America just two years ago.These days the Magnolia State is the locale for unrealized expectations, frustrating losses and the bottom of the Southeastern Conference Western Division.Now Ole Miss (3-4, 1/3 SEC) and Mississippi State (2-5, 1-3) are trying to figure out a way to salvage something from whats quickly turning into a forgettable season for both programs.Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze says his program hasnt given up despite two straight losses, including Saturdays 38-21 setback to LSU that knocked the Rebels out of the national rankings for the first time season.Were not the first to experience that and its probably not the last time well experience it in this league, Freeze said. So weve got to fight.Bravado aside, theres a distinct sense of deflation across the state two years after some of the biggest football weekends in the history of Mississippi. In October 2014, Mississippi State was the No. 1 team in the country for the first time in school history while Ole Miss was closely behind them at No. 3.The fall has been swift. Now the Bulldogs and Rebels have plenty of work to do over the next five weeks just to reach six wins and make a bowl game.I hate sitting up here saying we have to keep working hard, but thats the name of the game, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said. I want to go out there with a bunch of guys who want to fight to the end. We have to find the guys that want to be out there and give it their all.Ole Miss had the highest expectations of the two Mississippi programs this season -- ranked No. 11 in the preseason -- making its rapid fall more surprising. Kelly returned after throwing for more than 4,000 yards last season and has had good moments this season, even though several of his interceptions and lost fumbles have been crucial in losses.But the Rebels real problem is on defense.Ole Miss ranks close to the bottom in the SEC in several major defensive categories, including 13th out of 14 teams in scoring defense (31.4 points per game) and last in rushing yards allowed (226.9 per game).The Ole Miss defense was torched by LSU running back Leonard Fournette on Saturday. Fournette needed just 16 carries to run for a school-record 284 yards.The Rebels frustration boiled over during the game as defensive players argued about the problems.There are going to be issues. Families argue, Ole Miss defensive end Victor Evans said. Were all not going to see eye to eye sometimes. We all try to do what weve got to do to get on one page.It wont get any easier for the Rebels: They host No. 15 Auburn (5-2, 3-1) on Saturday.Mississippi State should have an easier weekend ahead, hosting lower-division foe Samford on Saturday. But nothing has been easy for the Bulldogs, who lost 40-38 to Kentucky last weekend after the Wildcats made a 51-yard field goal as time expired.Some of Mississippi States regression was expected since the Bulldogs were transitioning to sophomore quarterback Nick Fitzgerald following the spectacular career of Dak Prescott. But its safe to say a 2-5 record -- which includes losses to South Alabama, BYU and Kentucky -- wasnt expected.Its a little bit of everything, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. You have a bunch of injuries, combined with a bunch of young players, combined with a new staff on the defensive side of the ball. It adds up.Mullen says hes still confident in his young core of players, including Fitzgerald, freshman receiver Keith Mixon, freshman linebacker Leo Lewis and freshman defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons.Its just that when a team is relying on so many young players, large variations in performance are common.You see a lot of good things, Mullen said. And then there are some head scratchers.-----Follow David Brandt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidbrandtAP . AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org . Wholesale MLB Jerseys . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. http://www.mlbjerseyschinacheap.com/ . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Cheap Nike MLB Jerseys . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Cheap Baseball Jerseys . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Remember that time when Kevin Pietersen danced down the pitch to Shane Warne and was stumped, and the umpire asked Ricky Ponting to withdraw the appeal? Of course you dont, because it didnt happen, and the very idea of it happening is absurd. Why, then, do umpires continue to pressure fielding captains to reconsider appeals for the so-called Mankad dismissal, the act of a bowler running out a non-striker who is backing up?How are the situations any different, really? In both cases the batsman is attempting to gain advantage, in one by reaching the pitch of the ball and negating spin, in the other by reducing the distance he must cover to complete a run. A wicketkeeper who stumps a batsman is lauded for his sharp work, yet an eagle-eyed bowler who mankads is usually condemned as unsporting.In 2011, the ICC made it easier for bowlers to effect such a dismissal. Previously the bowler had to take the bails off before entering his delivery stride. This is still the case under the MCCs Laws of Cricket, but the ICC adapted its playing conditions to allow the act before releasing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual delivery swing. It was a clear and deliberate move to keep batsmen accountable.But umpires have undermined the regulation by victimising bowlers who are only trying to stop batsmen sneaking an advantage. Consider these two recent examples.Last February in an ODI at the SCG, Lahiru Thirimanne continually left his crease far too early. R Ashwin warned Thirimanne and when the batsman kept doing it, Ashwin ran him out. Instead of raising his finger, the umpire, Paul Reiffel, consulted his square-leg colleague and asked Indiass captain, Virender Sehwag, if he wanted to go through with the appeal.ddddddddddddIn doing so, Reiffel implicitly suggested Ashwins act of removing the bail was underhanded. It told the crowd India were borderline cheats, made Thirimanne think his behaviour was okay, and placed undue pressure on Sehwag, who ended up withdrawing a legitimate appeal. Thirimanne batted on, continued to back up unfairly, scored 62 and set up a Sri Lankan victory.Later in 2012, Surreys Murali Kartik mankaded Somersets Alex Barrow during a County Championship match. Like Ashwin, Kartik had warned the batsman, though he wasnt compelled to do so. Still, the umpire, Peter Hartley, wasnt happy. He asked the fielding captain, Gareth Batty, three times if he would withdraw the appeal. Rightly, Batty refused, and later Surrey were booed off the field.Reiffel and Hartley should simply have raised a finger, as they would for any other run-out, but instead they added to the ill-feeling by suggesting the bowler was in the wrong. The ICCs playing condition 42.11 explicitly states that a mankad is fair. An additional clause should be added to state that an umpire must not consult the fielding captain before making his decision, unless the conversation is instigated by the captain.Certainly a mankad is no less fair than when a strikers straight drive rockets through the bowlers hands and hits the stumps with the non-striker out of his ground. Of course, umpires rightly treat that as they do a regulation run-out. Just as they should with the mankad. ' ' '