In a Nutshell: Quick Wrap-Up of the Ole Miss win over Arkansas
OXFORD, Miss. — Here’s a quick glance at the Ole Miss 52-51 win over Arkansas at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
THE POSITIVE: The resilience of Ole Miss. The Rebels fell behind and then came back. Once Ole Miss had the lead, it protected it. Even the last play of the game, when Arkansas could have won it, the Rebels’ defense simply stepped up to the occasion and helped secure the victory.
THE NEGATIVE:Tackling. Ole Miss missed many that led to Arkansas yards and Arkansas points. The Razorbacks are a good team and they took advantage. A great team will use Ole Miss’ inability to get runners to the ground to beat them.
THE KEY PLAY:With just over a minute to play, Braylon Sanders put a double move on an Arkansas defender who is still looking for him. The result was a 68-yard touchdown pass from Matt Corral. The score gave the Rebels a seven-point lead and the defense was able to stave off a two-point conversion by the Hogs to preserve the win.
Corral to Sanders and Ole Miss is on top 52-45 pic.twitter.com/AhwxoOg2Ty
— TJ (@TJOxley1) October 9, 2021
THE KEY PLAYER:Corral. Plain and simple, Corral. Not only did he throw for 287 yards and two touchdowns, he nearly ran for 100, gaining 94. But it was the way he ran the ball for Ole Miss. The junior looked more like a fullback than a quarterback when he tucked the ball and headed upfield.
THE KEY UNIT:The running backs. Missing Jerrion Ealy due to his enrollment into the concussion protocol, Henry Parrish, Jr., and Snoop Conner stepped up big. Parrish ran for 111 yards, Conner 110. Conner scored three touchdowns, two of them from long distance and he averaged 9.2 yards per carry.
Snoop busts free for a 51 yard TD. Ole Miss Twitter gonna love this one pic.twitter.com/uID77EE9ea
— TJ (@TJOxley1) October 9, 2021
THE MOMENTUM SHIFTER:It gets lost among all of the big plays, but it was a seven-yard touchdown run by Corral with 42 seconds in the half.
Matt Corral for his second TD on the ground. Throw it up deuce! pic.twitter.com/q7TTEp7P3D
— TJ (@TJOxley1) October 9, 2021
The run gave Ole Miss a lead going into the break, but the Rebels also received the second-half kickoff. Ole Miss took the initial possession of the third quarter and drove to a 50-yard Caden Costa field goal. The result was ten unanswered points.
WHAT THE GAME MEANS GOING FORWARD:With Alabama’s loss, Ole Miss is now tied atop the western division standings, but in actuality, the Rebs are a game back with a head-to-head loss to Bama. But the Arkansas win showed the Rebels they can win a close game instead of having to blow out teams.
(Feature image credit: Dan Anderson, The Rebel Walk)
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
