FAYETTEVILLE -- Buses carrying the Arkansas football team to its hotel made a surprise stop after the completion of Friday's practice.
"Took a little detour," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "We usually drive right to the hotel. We usually take a right. We took a left.
"Got kids talking all of a sudden."
Reynolds Razorback Stadium was the destination, and Bielema had the players get out so he could give them a pep talk.
"I told those guys, 'Let's do whatever we have to do to protect this house,' " Bielema said. "The good news is, there's going to be 70,000 people there tomorrow to help you do this.'
"I thought they bought into it hook, line and sinker. Never wavered. Needed help from the crowd. They delivered."
The Razorbacks' 34-30 victory over No. 12 Ole Miss Saturday night came in front of an announced crowd of 73,786.
It was a much-needed lift for the Razorbacks and their fans after No. 1 Alabama beat Arkansas 49-30 at Razorback Stadium the previous week. The crowd of 75,459 did its best to help the Razorbacks upset the Crimson Tide, but Alabama made it tough on everyone by jumping out to a 35-10 lead in the first half.
"But we bounced back," said Arkansas tailback Rawleigh Williams, who rushed for 180 yards against Ole Miss. "We always saw we have a good football team, and nobody can take that away from us.
"We know what we have in our locker room. We just knew we had to work this week harder than we ever have and it would pay off for us."
Razorbacks players said stopping at the stadium and listening to Bielema was strong motivation.
"It gave us a sense of pride," Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen said. "Just not wanting to lose on our home field again.
"Protect your people in the house, and that's your fans. We can't let anyone come in and take what's ours. I really felt like a lot of people bought in on that."
Arkansas (5-2, 1-2 SEC) avoided what would have been an 0-3 SEC start and beat a ranked Ole Miss team for the third consecutive season.
"People doubted us after the Alabama loss, but we came back ready to work.," Arkansas safety Santos Ramirez said. "This is big momentum for us going forward to play Auburn next week."
Texas A&M and Alabama, the two teams to beat Arkansas, are a combined 13-0.
"We'd obviously love to have those two games back," Bielema said. "We had an opportunity to win them both, but we didn't.
"You earn everything in this world, especially in the SEC West."
Arkansas is among six of the SEC West's seven teams -- all but Mississippi State -- that are ranked in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Razorbacks, who rose from No. 22 to No. 17, are ranked along with No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 21 Auburn, No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 25 LSU.
Arkansas plays at Auburn, then returns home to play No. 15 Florida and LSU before finishing at Mississippi State and Missouri.
SEC West teams are 7-0 against the East, including Alabama's 49-10 victory Saturday at Tennessee, which fell from No. 9 to 18 in The Associated Press poll.
"The SEC West is like a whole other league, a whole other world you live in," Bielema said. "It's just kind of fun.
"It is what it is. It's not fun when you lose. But it's a lot of fun when you win."
Sports on 10/17/2016