Rebels double up on Razorbacks in lopsided win

Arkansas struggles in 63-31 loss to Ole Miss

From the University of Arkansas

arkansasrazorbacks.com

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 18 Ole Miss completely dominated Arkansas 63-31 on Saturday at Razorback Stadium in front of 72,894 fans.

Ole Miss (7-2, 3-2) only held a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, but scored 28 points in the second period to take a dominating 35-10 lead over Arkansas (5-4, 3-3) into intermission. Sam Pittman admitted at halftime the Hogs seemingly had no answers for the Rebels.

'We can’t cover them and we can’t protect right now,' Pittman said. 'So we’ve got to figure out what protections we can use to protect Taylen (Green). And we’ve worked all kinds of different coverages on the back end. In five seconds of man coverage we couldn’t cover them. So we’ve got to figure out how to cover them and how get to the quarterback. And be able to protect our quarterback better and run the ball a little bit better.'

But it didn't get any better for Arkansas in the second half.

They allowed 21 points in the third quarter. The only difference was Arkansas' offense with backup quarterback Malachi Singleton managed some momentum. The Hogs offense got 14 points of its own in the third quarter and each team had seven in the fourth period. Pittman credited Ole Miss, but expressed disappointment for the outcome.

'Obviously give credit to Ole Miss,' Pittman said. 'Jaxson Dart was incredible. (Jordan) Watkins was — couldn't cover him. We've got a long way to go, a lot of work to do. Disappointed in the way we played, our kids are disappointed in the way we played. But we're going to have to get healthy, have a good week next week moving on. Very disappointed. I felt like we had them ready to play. Obviously that wasn't the case.'

Ole Miss struck first when defensive end Princely Umanmielen fell on a Green fumble in the end zone for a touchdown. TJ Dottery forced the fumble on a third-and-10 play from the 1-yard line. The score came with 6:56 remaining in the opening 15 minutes. Arkansas answered that score on its next possession.

Matthew Shipley booted a 55yard field goal to complete a 7-play, 38-play drive. The big play on the drive came on the first play when Green hit wide receiver Andrew Armstrong for a 20-yard pass to his own 45.

But Ole Miss wasted no time taking control of the game.

They scored on their next three possessions. The first touchdown came when Dart hit tight end Dae'Quan Wright for a 4-yard touchdown. That put the lead to 14-3 with 14:28 remaining in the first half. It was an 11-play, 75yard drive.

The Ole Miss forced an Arkansas punt on its next possession. Dart hit Watkins for a 62-yard touchdown on first down. The lead was now 21-3 with 12:10 remaining in the first half.

Once again after forcing an Arkansas punt, the Rebels responded this time with Dart hitting Watkins for a 66-yard touchdown with 8:37 remaining before halftime. This drive took two plays compared to one the previous time.

Trailing now 28-3, Arkansas finally got a little bit of momentum going when they drove 75 yards in nine plays.

The drive ended with running back Rashod Dubinion racing in from the 6 for the touchdown. That moved Arkansas within 28-10 wit 5:50 left before halftime. The Hogs put together another drive before halftime, but it bogged down when Green was sacked at the Ole Miss 27 with 1:18 remaining in the

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first half. Shipley's 45-yard field goal was wide.

Ole Miss took over at its own 27. They drove the 73 yards to take a late touchdown when Dart once again found Watkins for a 3-yard touchdown pass and 35-10 lead at intermission. Pittman was asked if there was any indication a game of this nature was going to happen?

'No, I mean, we had a really good week of practice,' Pittman said. 'As good as we've had. So, no, I felt like we had some matchup problems, but I thought we had some answers with it. We were in 3-deep and they ran by us. We were in man, but we were in 3-deep and they ran by us, too. Couldn't get pressure on the quarterback, couldn't get there, either.

When we were in man-to-man with some of their receivers they had, Watkins specifically, we were having a hard time guarding him.'

Singleton came in for Green when he went out with an injury after halftime. Singleton had a very good day. He completed 11 of 14 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Singleton had 39 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries.

'Taylen came back when he got hurt, then we worked on him at half,' Pittman said.

'We didn't know coming out of half if he would be ready to play. We said we were going to look at him throwing and moving. Bobby (Petrino) had him moving front and back and just was gimpy. We didn't want to take that chance of getting him hurt further, plus we believe in Malachi putting him in. That was the decision there, it had nothing to do with — we just didn't want to get him hurt worse by putting him back out there. He was willing. Part of his success has to do with his legs, and he didn't have them, basically.'

In the third quarter, Dart started off just as they finished in the first half. Ole Miss got the ball first and promptly drove 75 yards on seven plays. The drive ended with Dart tossing 11 yards to Watkins for a 42-10 advantage.

Singleton and the Hogs answered though with a 75-yard drive of their own in just five plays. Singleton ran it in from 13 yards out to pull within 4217 with 9:49 remaining in the third quarter.

Ole Miss then drove 79 yards for another score. Defensive tackle JJ Pegues, 6-2,.325, scored from the 1-yard line as he took a direct snap from the Ole Miss center. That put Ole Miss up 49-17 with 6:59 remaining in the third period.

After forcing another threeand- out for Arkansas, Ole Miss was ready to strike again. Dart once again found Watkins for a 62-yard touchdown with 4:48 remaining in the third quarter. Ole Miss now was leading 56-17 with Dart still in the game. Pittman was asked if he was surprised Dart was still in the game at that point?

'No. I mean, Lane, I don't have a problem with Lane or what he did,' Pittman said. 'I don't know if they were trying to get him a record or what the case is, but I don't have a problem with how the game went except for we have an opportunity to stop it and we couldn't.'

Arkansas was able to score itself with a 7-play, 75-yard drive. Running back Rodney Hill, fresh off the injured list, ran for a 2-yard touchdown with 2:22 left in the third quarter. The Hogs now trailed 56-24.

Ole Miss backup quarterback Austin Simmons got into the game in the fourth quarter. He hit Wright for a 12-yard touchdown with 6:47 remaining in the game. Ole Miss passed for 562 yards and seven touchdowns in the game. They had 694 yards of total offense for the game.

Pittman was asked if he was surprised how much the Rebels went deep?

'They were having success with it,' Pittman said. 'I think in three plays they had two go routes for touchdowns on us, so no, it didn't surprise us.

We'd been working go balls

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all week, but we felt like they would do it, run the hitch, hitch-and-go … we felt like they would try to attack us like LSU did in their own way of offense, and they did.'

The final score of the game came when Singleton passed 22 yards to tight end Luke Hasz for six points.

Hasz caught five passes for 77 yards and the touchdown. Armstrong added six receptions for 135 yards.

Green finished the game 10 of 14 for 158 yards. He had 10 carries for 16 yards.

Arkansas finished with two turnovers to none for Ole Miss. Arkansas was penalized 10 times for 95 yards.

What’s Next?

Arkansas has a bye this next weekend before hosting Texas in Fayetteville.

For more coverage of Arkansas athletics, visit arkansasrazorbacks.com.