OXFORD, Miss. -- It took six years, but Ole Miss finally got some cosmic payback for the Henry Heave in a most dramatic fashion.
The No. 17 Rebels stopped a two-point conversion pass with no time left to hold off No. 13 Arkansas 52-51 on Saturday before a crowd of 60,256 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
KJ Jefferson had completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Warren Thompson as time expired to cap a 75-yard drive in the final minute and pull the Razorbacks (4-2, 1-2 SEC) to within one point.
Ole Miss (4-1, 1-1 SEC) got pressure on Jefferson on the two-point try and he fired high for Treylon Burks in the end zone to set off a wild celebration by the Rebels.
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Had the Razorbacks converted the two-point play, the final would have been 53-52, the same score by which Arkansas won here in 2015, on Brandon Allen's two-point conversion run following Hunter Henry's desperation lateral heave which Alex Collins converted on a fourth-and-25 play in overtime.
Arkansas lost despite outgaining the Rebels 676-611 in total yardage, the most total yards by the Razorbacks in an SEC game and their fourth-highest total ever.
Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman told the offensive staff and players he was going to eliminate overtime and go for two if the Razorbacks managed to score in the final minute.
"I loved the play call," Pittman said, adding the Razorbacks practiced it all week. "We had three options there on the play, and we just didn't convert it."
Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin was frustrated by his team's defense.
"They went for two and we stopped them on that," Kiffin said. "We stopped them on one play in the second half and that's a good thing.
With tailbacks Dominique Johnson and AJ Green motioning to flank Jefferson in the backfield, Johnson released inside for a potential shovel pass. Jefferson didn't like what he saw on that option, leaving him the choice to either run it as he rolled right or throw a pass to Green, who had released to the right side of the end zone or Burks, who was deeper and surrounded by defenders. Defensive lineman Tavius Robinson had gotten through the line and forced Jefferson to make a fast decision.
Jefferson said the Rebels played a different coverage than the one Arkansas was expecting on the two-point play.
"They just played great coverage on the back end," Jefferson said. "I tried to get one of my guys a play. Just throw it and let them make a play."
Pittman said he'd have to look at the tape, but he felt the inside pitch to Johnson might have been available.
"They just muddied the play for the pitch so I just brought it outside and tried to make a play," Jefferson said.
Brother-in-laws Kendal Briles and Jeff Lebby, the Arkansas and Ole Miss offensive coordinators, dialed up plays that helped their teams combine for 1,287 yards and 103 points that included five ties. Arkansas racked up 400 yards in the second half while Ole Miss had 375.
Jefferson had a massive performance in front of dozens of family and friends from his nearby hometown of Sardis, Miss.
The 6-3, 245-pound sophomore rushed for 85 yards and 3 touchdowns and completed 25 of 35 passes for 326 yards and 3 more scores.
"I was fully pumped, excited to have family members see me play that haven't seen me play since I played college ball," Jefferson said. "
The only Arkansas touchdown that Jefferson didn't account for was Trelon Smith's 14-yard run up the middle in the second quarter in which he spun near the end zone and kept his knee off the grass as he lunged across the line to give Arkansas a 14-6 lead.
Jefferson was responsible for a career-high 411 yards and six touchdowns.
"I was very proud of KJ," Pittman said. "He's a competitive son of a gun. He ran the ball well, and threw it."
Arkansas freshman Raheim Sanders had his first career 100-yard game with 139 yards on 17 caries. Smith also rushed for 85 for the Razorbacks.
Burks had seven receptions for 136 yards and a touchdown, while Thompson added 62 receiving yards and tight end Trey Knox had 37 receiving yards and his first touchdown in two years.
Ole Miss countered with a pair of 100-yard rushers in Henry Parrish Jr. (18 for 111) and Snoop Conner (12-110), who scored three touchdowns on the ground. Sanders caught five passes for 127 yards to lead the Rebels' receivers.
However, it was quarterback Matt Corral who stirred the Ole Miss offensive most effectively, atoning for his six-interception game in last year's loss at Arkansas.
"We thought they would make a mistake, and we could get the lead there, but it really never happened," Pittman said on the Razorback Sports Network.
Corral racked up 94 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns to take the SEC lead in that department, and completed 14 of 21 passes for 287 yards and 2 scores.
Both of his touchdowns came on long passes to receivers who had sprinted past defenders: A 67-yard strike to Dontario Drummond in the second quarter and a 68-yard bomb to Braylon Sanders to give Ole Miss a 52-45 lead with 1:07 remaining.
The Rebels hammered Arkansas with big plays on the ground and in the air.
Ole Miss had eight run plays of 12-plus yards, including Conner touchdowns covering 51 and 34 yards. Corral completed four passes of 25-plus yards, including a 59-yarder to Sanders to set up Connor's 1-yard scoring run for a 45-38 lead.
"They attacked us in the run game with some things we hadn't seen before with our three-down front and had some success with it," Arkansas linebacker Hayden Henry said. "We made some corrections and were able to defend it better but were still getting gashed a little bit, so we're going to have to find some corrections and get it fixed."
Arkansas maintained the lead most of the first half but got off-schedule when Ole Miss linebacker Chance Campbell stripped and recovered a Sanders fumble at the Rebels' 27 with the score tied 14-14. The Razorbacks got a stop after that turnover, the first lost fumble by an Arkansas back since Smith had one against Alabama late last year, but Cam Little missed a 50-yard field goal on their next possession.
Ole Miss turned that into a 68-yard touchdown drive, taking its first lead at 21-14 on Corral's 7-yard keeper up the middle with 42 seconds left in the quarter.
The track meet of a second half helped the game produce 103 total points, the most ever in regulation between the teams.