Former Amory standout Dennis Johnson has a lot of friends that don't wish anything bad for their buddy, but would love to see him lose on Saturday.

Johnson, a defensive lineman for the No. 18 LSU Tigers, said the smack talk from his friends hasn't been to the extent he thought it might be.

"It hasn't been that bad," Johnson said,"at least not what I thought it would be."

Johnson said LSU coach Les Miles made sure this week that his Tigers are aware of how good the visiting Rebels are. Ole Miss (6-4, 3-3) have lost four games by a total of 19 points.

Johnson says LSU (7-3, 3-3) has to play its game and not let the Rebels dictate the tempo.

"It's a big game between two states that are connected to each other," he said. "We have to play four quarters of LSU football."

How they don't want to play is how they played in a 40-31 win against Troy last week, a game the Tigers trailed 31-3 in the third quarter. Saturday's 2:30 p.m. battle in Baton Rouge, CBS' national game, has Cotton Bowl implications.

"It wasn't fun with the score like that at halftime," Johnson said. "Then they come out at the start of the second half and score. But we came together as a team and played football the way we know how. It was a little fun at the end though."