OXFORD, Miss. — The Arkansas Razorbacks got off to another slow start Saturday.
The BCS No. 9 Razorbacks trailed heavy underdog Ole Miss 17-0 and were completely back on their heels on both sides of the ball.
“You certainly don’t want to start that way, but you’ve got to give them credit,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. “They had a plan. They came out and executed it, kept the ball away from us, ran the ball, made plays in the first half when it presented itself.
There was a silver lining for Arkansas, however.
The Razorbacks had been in much the same position before - trailing Texas A&M 35-17 at halftime - and had overcome it before - rallying for a 42-38 victory.
But to come back against Ole Miss, they had to slow down a formerly listless Rebels offense that was collapsing the edges of the Arkansas defense and completing a lot of short passes against soft coverage.
“My gosh, I wish I could figure these kids out sometimes,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said.
The Rebels controlled the first quarter in time of possession with a 11:41 to 3:19 edge and held the Hogs to one first down and 11 total yards.
The second quarter continued the trend. After an Arkansas punt, the Rebels went 80 yards in 11 plays, scoring on Randall Mackey’s 3-yard run for the 17-0 lead. At that point, Ole Miss had run 30 plays for 210 yards to Arkansas’ 11 plays for 34 yards.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure we don’t do this again,” Petrino said of the sluggish start.
“Again we came out a bit slow,” Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson said. “I’m sure that will be a topic of discussion this next week.
“Their game plan was to have the ball, milk the clock,play base zone coverage in the first half. They kept our guys in front of them. They weren’t going to allow big plays. We didn’t get a whole lot of offensive possessions.”
The possessions Arkansas did have were short and not productive, until tailback Dennis Johnson turned a third-and-14 draw into a 52-yard touchdown run.
“Tyler made some mistakes early in the game, on the first two drives that set us back,” offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said. “So we didn’t get many plays in the first quarter.”
McGee gave Ole Miss credit for its game plan and added, “Then Tyler kind of helped them with the plan.That’s what the slow start was all about.”
The Razorbacks took off in the second half, out gaining the Rebels 310-120, with 80 of those Ole Miss yards coming on a late, desperation touchdown drive that included two fourth-down conversions.
Robinson chuckled when asked if he viewed the performance as a growing experience for the defense.
“I don’t know,” Robinson said. “We’ve grown up the last three games in the second half. You’d like to see them grow up in the first half so we can play a little bit better.
“We’re not disappointed in what we did. We’re proud of the way they fought more than anything.”
Sports, Pages 34 on 10/23/2011