(Editor's note: Ole Miss offensive lineman Todd Wade will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on Ole Miss sports, visit the official Mississippi site.)

Oct. 26, 1999

A week off was great for me personally because I had the flu last Friday and Saturday, and the time off gave me the chance to regain my energy. I'm fine now and ready to play. As for the team, the off week gave a couple of our injured players an opportunity to get better. I talked with Charles Stackhouse the other day, and he is improving. Keydrick Vincent is going to be back as well, so we will be close to 100 percent for the LSU game.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton: Controlling your own destiny
	UCLA's Danny Farmer: Another tough loss
	Miami's André King: Bring on West Virginia
	Oregon State's Ken Simonton: Running down a dream
	Oregon's Reuben Droughns: Contributing to the success

We had some good practices last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The guys picked it up, and the intensity level remained high even though we didn't have a game. Last week, everything went really well.

Saturday we face LSU, which gave Mississippi State all it could handle last Saturday. Obviously, the Bulldogs haven't given up all season long. They have shown a lot of character, and they've been fighting hard. They have a lot of talent there, and they've had great recruiting classes the last few years. They are a talented team, and you have to be ready for teams like that.

Year in and year out, LSU is one of our top rivals, along with Mississippi State. Everybody loves playing them. Both teams come out with a lot of emotion. I know that it will be a packed stadium, and I know that all of our fans who have tickets will be there supporting us.

Plus, this Saturday's game will be extra special for me because we're playing on my birthday.

Playing in Death Valley is always interesting. We're fortunate that we have played before big crowds on the road this season at Auburn, South Carolina and Memphis. Those games have helped us to play in front of big crowds, and I know we'll be ready for Saturday.

Counting Saturday's game, we've got only four more this season, and our goal is to win them all. We want to win our last four games and put ourselves in a position to win the SEC Western Division title. If we can win our four games -- and other things fall in the right place -- we'll have a shot to win it. We have to get the job done. We got our work cut out for us because we have four very good teams left to play. It'll be tough, but I believe we can do it.