Gamer: Ole Miss falls, 42-27, to Arkansas in Fayetteville
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In what could be considered as a classic trap game, Ole Miss walked right into it.
After losing to Alabama a week ago and with archrival Mississippi State awaiting in five days, the Rebels were primed to be knocked off and they were on a cold night in Fayetteville.
The Rebels committed 12 penalties, two of them very costly, and missed opportunities all night as Arkansas defeated Ole Miss, 42-27.
Raheim “Rocket” Sanders of Arkansas ran for 232 yards to add to the Ole Miss nightmare.
First-half
It did not take long for the whiplash effect to hit Ole Miss. In the first quarter, Arkansas mounted a 69-yard and a 73-yard scoring drive to take a 14-0 lead. The only thing that tempered the onslaught was a 45-yard field goal by Jonathan Cruz that cut the lead to 14-3 at the end of the first period.
The second quarter was no better as the Razorbacks outscored Ole Miss 21-3 to take a 35-6 lead at halftime.
It was actually not as lopsided at the break as the score indicated at the time, as Ole Miss had scored two touchdowns, but watched as each was negated by penalty.
Since the first half of the loss to Liberty two weeks ago, the Hogs had only given up one touchdown in the past eight quarters.
Second-half
Arkansas took the ball to start the third quarter and two plays into the half, Sanders raced for a 68-yard touchdown through the heart of the defense. Before the Rebels touched the ball in the second half, they were down 42-6.
Ole Miss attempted to come back on the ensuing possession, but after Quinshon Judkins ran for a nice gain, the Razorbacks pulled the ball loose and Arkansas fell on the fumble.
Midway through the third quarter, Ole Miss had another opportunity to score a touchdown, but a fourth-down attempted pass from Jaxson Dart to Malik Heath fell incomplete to keep the Rebels out of the end zone again.
Ole Miss had the Razorbacks stopped on the next possession, but as KJ Jefferson was being tackled to force a punting situation, Otis Reese threw an apparent punch at the ball after the whistle had blown to extend the drive. On the next play, the Rebs were called for a pass interference penalty to give Arkansas the ball at the Rebels’ 44.
Fortunately, Arkansas was not able to capitalize on the mistakes and was forced to punt the ball away and Ole Miss took over at its own 4 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.
Judkins got the Rebels out of trouble with a 60-yard run which allowed him to eclipse the school record for rushing in a season.
Finally in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss got into the end zone as Judkins blasted in from a yard out. The drive covered 96 yards in nine plays.
Judkins finished with 214 yards on the night. He now has 1,385 yards this year, breaking the record of 1,312 set by Kayo Dottley in 1949.
Quinshon Judkins for the score, breaking the single-season rushing record held by Kayo Dottley with 1352 yards and 16 TDs!! pic.twitter.com/aVzbP70Zps
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) November 20, 2022
A failed two-point conversion left the score at 42-12.
Midway through the final period, Evans ran up the gut 48 yards for a touchdown and Dart hit Jonathan Mingo for the two-pointer to cut the lead to 42-20.
With just under four minutes left, Dart hit Heath with a 13-yard scoring strike and Cruz nailed the kick to provide the 42-27 final score.
(Feature image credit: AP Photo/Michael Woods)
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.
