Arkansas had a chance to beat No. 17 Ole Miss in Oxford Saturday night, but a Jalen Brown fumble at the opponent's 24 with 1:52 remaining ended the last hope for the Razorbacks.
It was a game where both defenses, particularly in the first half, simply weren't very good. Both teams racked up big yardage totals with Arkansas at 522 and Ole Miss 475. Sam Pittman was obviously disappointed following the tough loss.
"It was a heck of a game by two good offenses," Pittman said. "It went down to the end where we had a chance to win it, but unfortunately we couldn't. I was really proud of our offense they kept us in it. Our defense couldn't do anything, in the first half especially, most of the game. We've got problems there and we've got to get them fixed."
The defense did get a three-and-out on Ole Miss late in the fourth quarter giving the Hogs a chance to win. Arkansas took over at its own 23. They drove down the field. Following the two-minute warning Taylen Green completed a pass to Jalen Brown who picked up two yards on the play before Ole Miss' TJ Dottery stripped the ball and Wydett Williams Jr. recovered it. Ole Miss was to pick up one first down and end the game.
"Two good SEC football teams out there," Pittman said. "We just came up on the short end."
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss completed 21 of 29 passes for 353 yards and one touchdown while also rushing for 62 yards and two touchdowns on 15 attempts. What happened to the defense?
"We've got to communicate better," Pittman said. "Two or three scores in the first half we just cut guys wide open. We couldn't cover a back. We would check a check and Lane (Kiffin) checks. We cut all that out in the second half because we had to give our guys a chance. We didn't open-field tackle very well. We didn't put pressure on the quarterback. Those are things that we certainly talked about in the first half."
Green completed 22 of 35 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed 13 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. Arkansas did miss both field goal attempts in the game including a 51-yarder on the first possession of the game. Pittman chose to go for a field goal instead of trying to make a fourth-and-two play. Pittman pointed out he took Jalen Brown aside following the game.
"It ain't his- that's certainly not his fault that we lost the game," Pittman said. "He certainly feels terrible about it, but I wanted to talk to him about it because he's made a lot of good plays for us in our first three games and we've got to hold on to that ball. He understands that. But there's a ton of stuff in that game we could have done better that we would have won the game. And I'm sure they feel the same way over there as well."
Jalen Brown did catch four passes for 40 yards. O'Mega Blake once again led the receivers with six receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown. Ole Miss' starting quarterback Austin Simmons was nursing an injured ankle. He only played briefly when Chambliss left the game with a hand injury. He completed his only pass for a four-yard touchdown. He wasn't on the availability report. Pittman was asked about that as well.
" You know I don't know the expectations," Pittman said. "I mean, to be honest with you, I probably expected him not to be listed. And, I mean, we had prepared for both guys. And to be honest with you, they do the same thing with both guys. So, one's right-handed one's left. But we had prepared for their offense, which they run with either guy. Obviously, when Simmons came in, he couldn't run, you know, but he certainly threw a touchdown on us. So, no, I didn't pay much stock in the injury report, because I figured they'd play whoever they wanted to, and we were prepared for, we prepared for either one of them."
Pittman was asked if he was pleased with the execution late in the game?
"Hell yeah," Pittman said. "I mean, we’re going to win. And like I said, I don’t think there’s anybody in here that didn’t think we were going to win. You know? And it just happened. But you know, I was trying to take as much time as I possibly could. We were at the 26. We had to score, but I was trying to take as much time as I possibly can. That’s why we didn’t run another play before the two-minute warning. We’re trying to score and give it to them late, and we were on a really good track. We just went down and scored, stopped them, man, but we just unfortunately had the turnover, but I was really proud of the way we executed."
Ole Miss jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a Kewan Lacy seven-yard run with 7:14 remaining in the opening quarter.
But Green and the Razorbacks answered that with its own 12-play, 75-yard drive. The Hogs scored when Green hit Blake for the 30-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
But Chambliss and the Rebels answered that with a four-play, 75-yard drive to go p 14-7. Chambliss ran it in from the two for the touchdown. The big play was on first down when Chambliss hit Cayden Lee for a 62-yard gain.
Arkansas came right back with its own four-play, 75-yard drive. Mike Washington scored on a 47-yard run to tie the game at 14.
Chambliss then added another short touchdown to put the Rebels back on top at 21-14. A 61-yard pass to Dae'Quan Wright was the big play that took the ball to the Arkansas one. Chambliss scored on the next play.
Braylen Russell, who had nine carries for 37 yards covered the final three to tie the game at 21 with 7:01 remaining in the first half.
Simmons making his lone appearance on the next drive threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Wallace III for a 28-21 advantage with 3:17 remaining before halftime.
Green though wasn't done for the half. He took the Razorbacks seven plays in 75 yards scoring from the five-yard line with 1:18 before intermission.
Ole Miss got a 36-yard field goal from Lucas Carneiro to take a 31-28 lead into halftime. Ole Miss stretched the lead to 38-28 when Chambliss passed six yards to De'Zhaun Stribling for a touchdown in the third quarter. Then Carneiro added a 23-yard field goal to give Ole Miss its biggest lead of the game at 41-28 with 10:58 remaining on the clock.
Washington, who rushed 13 times for 65 yards and two touchdowns scored from the three-yard line with 4:56 remaining in the game. He also caught two passes for 53 yards.
The Hogs did get the three-and-out from its defense, but the fumble ended any hopes Arkansas had of winning the game.
Cornerback Kani Walker left the game on a stretcher when Caleb Wooden's knee hit him in the back of the head when the two were defending a pass. But Pittman had good news after the game.
"Yeah, I think he’s doing well," Pittman said. "Thank you. He’s going to come back and go home with the team."
Arkansas (2-1, 0-1) will be at Memphis on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
