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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Football Team Travels to Arkansas
6/21/1999 | Football
November 2, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Rebels, coming off their third overtime thriller of the year, must now travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on undefeated 10th-ranked Arkansas in the Razorbacks' homecoming game. Kickoff at Razorback Stadium is set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday and will be televised by Jefferson-Pilot TV.
Ole Miss, 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference, defeated LSU 37-71 in overtime this past Saturday in front of a Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field record crowd of 50,577. After giving up a 31-10 fourth-quarter lead, Ole Miss quarterback Romaro Miller found Cory Peterson in the end zone for the game-winning 25-yard touchdown.
"This was a big win for our total athletic program, fans, alumni, the state of Mississippi, the football team and the coaching staff," Ole Miss head coach Tommy Tuberville said. "It's the first time that we've played this well at home. It was the best three quarters of football we've played since I've been here. It might have been one of the worst fourth quarters I've been involved in also, but it was an interesting game with some great performances."
Several Rebels registered outstanding games, including Miller, who tied a school record with four touchdown passes and completed 16-of-23 passes for 279 yards. Deuce McAllister rushed for over 100 yards for the third straight game, recording 176 yards on 26 carries. Peterson caught five passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.
Now the Rebels must put that game out of their minds and move on to their next opponent, which is a difficult task to accomplish, according to Tuberville.
"We're still on a high," Tuberville said. "One thing you want to do as a coach is forget about the previous game and go on to the next game. You try to get your players to forget about what has happened. Yesterday I told them we want to savor this victory for a couple of days. We're going to start back on Tuesday getting ready for Arkansas."
Arkansas downed Auburn 24-21 this past Saturday to move to 7-0 on the year and 4-0 in the SEC. The Razorbacks led 17-7 at halftime but fell behind 21-17 early in the third quarter. Eric Branch scored on a 14-yard run with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter as Arkansas held on for the victory.
"This is an important game," Tuberville said. "Houston Nutt has come in and done a super job bringing back the enthusiasm. That's how they are winning games, with a lot of emotion. They are playing hard every snap. They believe they can win. They believe in their coaches. The coaching staff has done a tremendous job with this team."
According to Tuberville, the keys to the Razorbacks' success are their speed and their quarterback, Clint Stoerner. Stoerner completed 18 of 28 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn and has passed for 1,619 yards and 16 touchdowns this year.
"They have good speed on both sides of the ball," Tuberville said. "If you look at everything that they have done this year, the backbone of their football team is their quarterback. He is making the right reads, he is comfortable with the offense, and he knows his receivers better."
Tuberville expects a tough game from the Razorbacks, as they are the first top 10 opponent for the Rebels this season.
"We are going to their homecoming and playing in front of a hostile crowd like we had here last week," Tuberville said. "We have to go back to work and try to improve. We hope we will play better on the road this week than in our last road game at Alabama."
