LITTLE ROCK — On a good week to move up in the Bowl Championship Series standings, the Arkansas Razorbacks slipped a spot.
Wisconsin lost and dropped from No. 6 to No. 15 and Oklahoma lost and fell from No. 3 to No. 9.
Arkansas slipped from 9 to 10 because of yet another slow start and come-from-behind victory. This time it was Ole Miss, which is winless in the SEC.
Sometimes a slow start isn’t a bad thing.
There have been a few days it seemed like being late was the mission statement for a certain airline.
Late for your own funeral seems like a good idea.
And some thoroughbreds have a style of running when they start slow and then come firing down the stretch.
Sometimes they win.
Sometimes they lose.
Like the Razorbacks did against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl when they started very slowly.
So far this season the Razorbacks have been able to shake off their slow starts — except for Alabama, but that game had more to do with the Crimson Tide than it did the Hogs — and get the victory.
The percentages are going to start working against them soon.
Most fingers are being pointed at the defense, and a ton of emails are being received with the now overused phrase, “Free Willy,” which was a cute family movie. But the defense is not the only thing starting slow.
Granted, the defensive backs couldn’t have given Ole Miss receivers much more of a cushion and still been in the same county.
The Rebels will probably adjust their scheme before they play LSU, but if they don’t, the Tigers might set a national record for interceptions.
It probably doesn’t bode well that of your eight top tacklers only one was a defensive lineman; Jake Bequette had six tackles. Of the 79 total tackles, 31 were by defensive backs.
Ole Miss’ game plan was obvious from the start: Control the clock, keep the Hogs offense on the sidelines.
That worked for a half while it appeared the Razorbacks had missed their wakeup call and were sleepwalking through Oxford.
Ole Miss, using short down-and-passes and lots of sweeps, had the ball 11:41 of the first quarter and 10:31 of the second.
They led 17-7 at half and had run 17 more plays than the Razorbacks, who had 22 plays for 128 yards. That included the dynamic run by Dennis Johnson for 52 yards and a touchdown on thirdand-long when the Rebels were in a prevent defense.
It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall in the Razorbacks’ locker room at halftime. Or maybe not, if you are the sensitive type.
Petrino definitely got their attention — again.
They came out and executed on both sides of the ball.
The offense had 251 yards of offense on 24 plays, scored 17 points and had possession 8:46 in the third quarter.
The defense limited Ole Miss to 34 yards on 13 plays in 6:14 during that period, but what the Hogs did most was shut off the edges.
The bottom line on Saturday’s performance is that every team remaining on the schedule is better than Ole Miss, including this week’s road foe, Vanderbilt.
Another slow start could see the Razorbacks’ BCS dream become a Commodore nightmare.
Vandy beat the Rebels 30-7 to open its SEC season.
Arkansas is better than it showed last Saturday in a friendly road environment, and the Razorbacks need to wake up and realize it.
Sports, Pages 15 on 10/25/2011