OXFORD, Miss. — On a sun-drenched Saturday that could have been created for football, the Arkansas Razorbacks got bowl eligible by scoring 29 consecutive points against the worst football team in the SEC.
It didn’t start out well for Arkansas against Ole MIss, and it took an interception by Eric Bennett with 32 seconds to play to seal the 29-24 victory, but it was a tale of two halves for both teams.
The Rebels ran and passed to a 17-7 halftime lead, gaining 250 yards, and then went into a far-too-familiar mode of playing conservative, notto-lose football.
They are winless in their past 10 SEC games dating to last year.
It really wasn’t so much a great comeback by Arkansas as it was several key plays that allowed the Hogs to survive and advance to play Vanderbilt, which opened SEC play with a 30-7 victory over these same Rebels.
Ole Miss has won one SEC game since it retired Colonel Reb and replaced him with a bear as a mascot last year. It’s a bear that apparently has been in hibernation almost as much as the Rebels’ offense.
The Razorbacks, on the other hand, continued to show improvement in their running game thanks to Dennis Johnson, who had a career-high 160 yards.
The Razorbacks were trailing 17-0 when Bobby Petrino caught Ole Miss in a prevent defense (five defensive backs) on a third-and-14. Petrino wasted no time in pulling the Rebels’ pants down.
He shocked the Rebels Nation with a run play, and Johnson went 52 yards for a touchdown.
You could not literally feel the life being sucked out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, but you certainly sensed the dread that rolled over the Rebels fans, who were pretty much shouted down from start to finish by the 20,000 or so Razorbacks fans.
The roads were packed all morning with cars that were decorated with Razorbacks magnets.
The key plays started when Joe Adams signaled for a fair catch while fielding a punt at the 16. He turned a touch by a defender into an Academy Award performance that left Ole Miss with a personal foul penalty.
Petrino caught the Rebels in a nickel defense again on first-and-10 from the Arkansas 31, and pulled their pants down again, with Johnson running for 16 yards. Later, Tyler Wilson hit Jarius Wright for 37 yards to the 1 and Wilson snuck it in for a 17-17 tie with 6:48 to play in the third quarter.
The defense, which struggled mightily on the edges during the first half, held the Rebels and Arkansas took over at its 25. That’s when Adams took a 4-yard pass and turned it into a 67-yard gain by crossing the field, shedding would-be tacklers and leaving more in his wake until he was forced out at the 8.
Wilson scored from the 1 on a fourth-down roll out and the Hogs took their first lead of the game.
The Hogs threatened to send the Rebels packing after Marquel Wade got 37 on a reverse - the Hogs totaled 206 yards on the ground - but the drive ended at the 1 with a fumble.
Jerry Franklin turned that mistake into a safety.
Zach Hocker added another field goal. Ole Miss got a late fourth-quarter touchdown and recovered the onside kick, but Bennett got his interception.
Ole Miss had 34 yards in the third quarter; the Razorbacks 251 and 19 points.
Not to rain on the Razorbacks’ parade, but this is the fourth slow start in a row and eventually that’s going to bite them on the behind. It might happen at Vanderbilt, which manhandled Ole Miss, leading 30-0 before giving up a late score.
The good news was that on a day made for football, Johnson was there to pick up the slack for Wilson, who struggled with deep passes, under throwing receivers.
Saturday, the Razorbacks did just enough to win, making them bowl eligible. Now, they can start working on building their bowl resume.
Sports, Pages 25 on 10/23/2011