NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The ninth-ranked Mississippi Rebels can't wait for Kewan Lacy's return, knowing how valuable the running back is to Trinidad Chambliss and the offense.
Vanderbilt hopes starting quarterback Jared Curtis is back Saturday when the Commodores put their 10-game home winning streak on the line against the Rebels.
“We know we got our work cut out for us, but I think our guys are in a good spot,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said.
His Rebels (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had an open date last week to regroup after their 52-28 loss to Florida. The extra time off should help Lacy return from the injured left shoulder that knocked him out of action during the win over LSU.
Golding said Lacy returned to practice Sunday. Golding plans to continue giving carries to JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier, who have run for 159 yards sharing 40 carries. How that rotation goes will be based on how healthy Lacy is.
"Even coming back, he’s not going to take the toll of 40 to 50 snaps and all those things,” Golding said.
Lacy has rushed for 191 yards on 34 carries for four touchdowns after rushing for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, which put him among the potential Heisman Trophy candidates for 2026. Lacy also is a key pass blocker for Chambliss and an offense averaging 35.5 points a game.
Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-2) held out Curtis during a 38-14 loss at No. 2 Georgia with an undisclosed injury suffered in a loss at Auburn. Coach Clark Lea said Curtis was gutted by the decision after throwing for 746 yards with four TDs. The freshman also has run for 133 yards and two more scores.
“I think he’s further along than he was a week ago, which is really encouraging,” Lea said Wednesday. “So we’ve had some positive signs, but, we gotta continue to see how he responds, and make sure he’s physically prepared to do the things we’ll need him to do to win a game.”
Blaze Berlowitz started his third game of the season with Curtis out at Georgia. After leading Vanderbilt to wins over Austin Peay and Delaware, the senior had moved to wide receiver with Curtis starting. Berlowitz threw for a career-high 190 yards at Georgia, and he has 358 yards passing and a TD.
“Depending who is in there, it’s like preparing for two different offenses,” Golding said of preparing for both quarterbacks.
Golding used practices since the Florida loss to get physical and work on mistakes in the run game knowing the next opponent features a defensive coach in Lea. Vanderbilt is giving up 128.2 yards rushing a game. Ole Miss ranks 119th nationally managing just 117.5 yards a game.
“They fly around,” Ole Miss tight end Luke Hasz said. “We’ve hurt our run game by missing one detail or one assignment but our mistakes are correctable.”
Ole Miss has won nine of the last 11 in the series with the last five coming by a margin of 24.4 points a game. Vanderbilt's last win came in overtime in 2018. The Rebels need this with their schedule over the next month featuring Missouri, a trip to Texas, Auburn and Georgia.
AP freelance writer Chris Burrows contributed to this report from Oxford, Mississippi.
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Vanderbilt running back Makhilyn Young (22) runs with the ball alongside offensive linemen Kevo Wesley (52) and Cade McConnell (70)during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea reacts during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. authorities added new torture charges Thursday to their case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, ramping up pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader already fighting drug trafficking allegations.
Maduro and wife Cilia Flores, already charged with participating in a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S., now also face allegations of human rights abuses during his time as president of the oil-rich South American nation.
The updated indictment “alleges conduct that is truly unthinkable,” New York-based U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said outside the courthouse where the case is being handled. He said thousands of Venezuelans, and some Americans, were tortured to ensure that Maduro and Flores held onto power.
“This is the epitome of corruption,” McDonald said.
The allegations include electric shocks, beatings and asphyxiation at Maduro’s behest. Maduro, the indictment claims, signed off on torture methods, sought and got updates on specific victims' treatment, watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner’s child “as a form of psychological torture.”
Flores, a former legislator and attorney general, helped develop the repressive system and ordered the torture of some specific people, the indictment contends.
A message seeking comment was sent to Maduro's lawyer. Flores' attorney said he hadn't yet had time to review the new allegations.
The couple pleaded not guilty in the U.S. drug case first brought years ago against them and numerous alleged co-conspirators. Their attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country.
They face potential sentences of life in prison if convicted.
Maduro, who served as Venezuela’s president from 2013 until his capture in January, has been under investigation for years by the International Criminal Court over allegations of crimes against humanity, tied to his crackdown on opponents. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
Both Maduro and Flores have been behind bars in New York since early January, when forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid. Flores’ lawyers unsuccessfully asked a judge Thursday to release her on house arrest.
Outside the courthouse, over a dozen demonstrators chanted slogans and held signs supporting her request.
The revised indictment includes several mentions of the involvement of Venezuela’s feared DGCIM military intelligence agency, which was headed for many years by one of Maduro’s co-defendants, Gen. Hugo Carvajal. He broke with Maduro years ago, pleaded guilty last year to drug trafficking charges in New York and has offered to testify against his former boss.
While the indictment doesn’t name the alleged torture victims, three are described as U.S. citizens. One was punched, subjected to electric shocks and forced to eat his own vomit during eight months of imprisonment, the indictment says. Another was beaten badly enough to necessitate a long hospital stay and had a gun stuck in his mouth. A third was handcuffed, hooded and beaten for two days every half an hour, suffering a permanent eye injury, the indictment said.
Maduro has long ignored lawsuits brought in U.S. courts by Americans who alleged they were beaten while in custody in Venezuela.
Among those who sued is Matthew Heath, a former U.S. Marine corporal from Tennessee. He was arrested at a roadblock in Venezuela in 2020 and held in custody for more than two years.
In May, Heath and another former prisoner won a $300 million default judgment against Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials for overseeing a pattern of torture. The lawsuit, brought under a federal anti-terrorism law, included allegations of waterboarding, electrocution, threats of rape with a nightstick, administration of mind-altering medications and the repeated use of a cramped cell nicknamed “El Tigrito.”
“It’s incredible to see a dictator in court,” Heath said Thursday upon learning of the new charges. “The Maduro prosecution will do more to prevent the kidnapping of Americans by rogue regimes than a hundred press releases from the United Nations.”
Meanwhile, Flores' lawyers argued that Flores, 69, has medical problems that cannot be treated effectively in jail. She has lost 25 pounds (11 kilograms) while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, might have suffered a minor heart attack in July, has “lingering lightheadedness, dizziness and shortness of breath” and has been told that she might need heart surgery, the attorneys said.
They also said she suffered permanent scarring when she was “thrown against a wall or dresser” during her capture.
Prosecutors opposed the bail request, saying that Flores was an “extreme” flight risk and has been taken for treatment at a local hospital when needed.
U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Flores’ request. He noted, among other things, that she’s unwilling to undergo catheterization in jail in order to determine the cause of her heart problems and the appropriate steps for treatment.
He also pushed back at the notion that her high blood pressure was life threatening, noting she’s already on medication for that.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation.” Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.
Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.
FILE - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores wave after his swearing-in ceremony for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
