No. 25 Ole Miss Overwhelms Arkansas State, 52-17

Oct 12, 2002

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By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP Sports Writer

OXFORD, Miss. - A week after upsetting Florida, Mississippi didn't have a letdown or get caught looking ahead to its game against Alabama next week.

Eli Manning threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 25 Ole Miss over Arkansas State 52-17 on Saturday.

The Rebels (5-1), ranked for the first time in two years and coming off an upset of Florida, had an easy time with the Indians (4-4).

Ole Miss is 18-1-2 against Arkansas State and have won the last 10 by an average of more than 20 points per game.

The Rebels didn't punt - though they did commit four turnovers - and outgained the Indians 508-264. Manning got to sit out most of the fourth quarter.

"You can't pretend this game is as big as Florida and Alabama, but it was important we got better - and we did," Ole Miss wide receiver Bill Flowers said.

The Rebels play four of their last six games on the road, all against SEC opponents.

"We are going to have to play outstanding down the stretch," Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe said.

Manning was 14-of-19 with an interception and tied the school record for career touchdown passes with 43, sharing the mark with Romaro Miller. Manning's father, Archie, threw 31 touchdowns in his stellar career at Ole Miss.

Manning, who seems to set some type of school record every week, was typically unimpressed with his latest accomplishment.

"It's not a big deal, really, to me," he said.

Manning was more pleased with the way the Rebels balanced their attack with 188 yards rushing. Ole Miss has struggled to run the ball recently.

"We really wanted to come in here and run the ball well and dominate the line of scrimmage," he said.

Last week, Manning had his school-record streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass snapped at 16. It didn't take him long to get a new streak started.

The junior hit Flowers with a 2-yard pass in the first quarter to make it 10-0.

A minute and a half after the Indians pulled to 17-10 on a field goal, Manning went deep to Taye Biddle for a 67-yard score with 4:39 left in the second quarter.

Vashon Pearson ran for two scores, and Ole Miss even got a career-long 50-yard field goal from Jonathan Nichols.

"I think we came out today and took care of business early and quick," said safety Von Hutchins, who had two interceptions. "That's what we needed to do to build our confidence."

If there was one concern for the Rebels, it might have been their inability to stop the Indians' running game. Danny Smith rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.

"We played a little soft in the first half and gave up some runs," Ole Miss defensive tackle Jesse Mitchell.

The Indians managed just 47 yards rushing in the second half.

Bill Flowers hauls in
a two-yard first quarter
touchdown pass reception.

The Rebels went up 38-10 in the third quarter on touchdown runs of 6 yards by Pearson and 13 by Tremaine Turner, effectively putting away the overmatched Indians.

"We have to be in position to run on some adrenalin, and we were unable to do that in the second half," Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts said.

Ole Miss scored 50 points in a non-overtime game for the first time since 1995. Last year, Ole Miss scored 56 points in seven overtimes against Arkansas.

The Indians had their three-game winning streak snapped, but are still off to their best start since moving up to Division I-A 10 years ago.

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