FAYETTEVILLE — Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt is trying to downplay his return to Arkansas for Saturday’s game against the Razorbacks. Nutt returns to Reynolds Razorback Stadium with a visiting team for the first time after being Arkansas’ coach for the previous 10 seasons.

“Sometimes you can’t help but think about it, during the summer off and on, because of the time we spent there,” Nutt said Monday during his weekly news conference in Oxford, Miss. “But I’m pretty wrapped up with Ole Miss.

“ I love this football team here, and I’ve gotten very close with these guys.

“ I think once that whistle blows and that ball is kicked off [Saturday ], it’s going to be just like every other football game.”

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Nutt said he understands his return is an obvious story line for the game, but that the focus should be on the players.

“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about our players.

“ I don’t make one block or make one tackle.

“ It’s about our players, so you try and get lost in that part of it as much as you can.

“ Our players weren’t there for 10 years, so I don’t want to fill them with all the things that we went through. This is Ole Miss, and it’s the next game.”

Nutt said being the next game makes it the biggest game, just as was the case against Alabama last week.

“I’d say this first year [playing at Arkansas ] probably will be different, a little bit different,” he said. “That’s why you just try to get locked into the routine, locked into getting ready for the game and gameplanning.”

Nutt will be going against many players he brought to Arkansas.

“You can’t help but have a lot of feelings for the guys that you recruited there,” he said. “Guys that you know. You know their families. So naturally there’s a relationship there.”

Ole Miss junior quarterback Jevan Snead, who became a starter this season after transferring from Texas and redshirting last year, declined to talk about what Nutt said to the team about playing at Arkansas.

“I don’t have anything to say about what he said to us, but he’s always full of energy, always very emotional,” Snead said. “I believe he’s going to work extremely hard this week as well.”

Said Ole Miss freshman running back Enrique Davis, “It’s a big game, because it’s the next game. That’s the way it is.

“ We just will go out there and play. We love playing football, and we want to go out and get ready for Arkansas.”

Nutt, responding to a question, said his move from Arkansas to Ole Miss naturally made it more of a rivalry game.

“I think it probably was an instant rival as soon as most of our staff came over here, because there’s been so much talk about it,” Nutt said.

Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3 SEC ) won 31-30 at Florida for its most noteworthy victory this season and has lost to Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Alabama by an average of 4. 7 points.

Last Saturday, the Rebels lost 24-20 on the road to the No. 2 Crimson Tide after trailing 24-3 at halftime.

“You knew this week was coming, but you focus on the task at hand,” Nutt said. “I’ve just got one job, and that’s to get our team better.

“ We’re a good football team. To be 3-4, it makes me sick, because I know we could be 6-1 or 7-0 so easily.

“ That’s what hurts and tugs at my heart for these seniors, because my obligation to them, like I told them in our very first team meeting, is that I want to get them to a bowl game. I want them to experience that.”

Nutt was asked if he’d prefer Saturday’s game be played at Little Rock rather than Fayetteville.

“Absolutely,” he said, laughing and drawing some laughter. “That’s my hometown.”

Nutt also laughed when asked if he could envision retiring to live in Arkansas after he’s done coaching.

“I think so,” he said. “I tell you what, my mother still lives there. My brother [Dickey ] still lives in the state.

“ I like where I’m living right now, though. So I don’t know about jumping over there to retire.”

Nutt said there are no plans to alter the Rebels’ road game routine for Arkansas.

“Nothing changes this week,” he said. “It’s the same type of deal. It’s get ready for the next game, and this is the next one.”