Vanderbilt and Ole Miss are teaming up.

The Commodores and Rebels will battle on the football field Saturday, but about 150 Vandy students and the chancellors from both schools will combine in Oxford on Friday to kick off Sports and Service: A Winning Tradition.

Two busloads of Vandy students will join Ole Miss students and perform community-service projects in the Oxford area. Next year, students from both schools will do the same in Nashville.

Students will work on landscaping and playground projects at three sites in Oxford. After finishing their work, they will have dinner along with Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee and Mississippi's Robert Khayat.

Vandy's students will be the guests of Ole Miss' Department of Student Housing on Friday night. On Saturday morning, students will have a pregame brunch together and then walk to Vaught- Hemingway Stadium.

''There's no reason why Vanderbilt and the University of Mississippi can't be rivals in athletic competition and partners in community service,'' Vanderbilt associate vice chancellor Steve Caldwell said.