The University of Mississippi Athletics
SIDEBAR: Offenses Shine in Nail-Biting Finish
10/9/2021 | Football
OXFORD, Miss. – Momentum was something neither team could capture and maintain in Ole Miss' 52-51 thriller over Arkansas on Saturday in Oxford. As it turned out, the rest of the game resembled nothing like each team's first scoring drive.
It took Arkansas 15 plays to get into the end zone on the game's opening drive. The Rebels took 17 plays to score their first touchdown, which came with 13:35 to go before halftime.
Only one of the game's remaining 14 drives even reached double digits, and that was by Ole Miss early in the fourth quarter on 10 plays. Five scoring drives were four plays or less.
Each team had more than 600 yards of total offense - Arkansas with 676 and Ole Miss with 611.
It wasn't necessarily that the two defenses were bad. It was more that the offenses were just that good, led by two quarterbacks with terrific performances.
Ole Miss' Matt Corral was 14-of-21 for 287 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, the Rebel starter rushed for 94 yards on 15 carries and two scores.
It was a significantly better showing for Corral than in last season's 33-21 Arkansas win over Ole Miss in Fayetteville. In that one Corral had six interceptions.
"I mean it's crazy to think what that game would be without him," said Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin. "The guy threw the ball lights out, ran the ball against a really good run defense for almost 100 yards yards rushing. That's the second-best pass defense in the country coming in statistically without arguably his best receiver."
"I really just wasn't worrying about what we had to get done," Corral said. "We gotta keep scoring and keep everybody locked in the game until it's over."
Arkansas starter K.J. Jefferson was 25-of-35 for 326 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. On the ground he had 20 carries for 85 yards and three more touchdowns.
The Razorbacks had two turnovers and the Rebels had none.
That the game came down to a two-point conversion attempt for Arkansas after a Razorback touchdown with no time left on the clock was fitting.
Up 14-6 early in the game, it looked like the Razorbacks might have some momentum. But the Rebels scored 15 points before halftime to lead 21-14 at the break, and they were the team that carried some momentum into the break.
In the third quarter the Rebels took the opening kickoff down for three points on a 50-yard Caden Costa field goal. It was 24-14 Ole Miss, but that lead didn't last long. The second half fireworks had only begun.
Arkansas scored the next 10 points to make it 24-24, and from that point on the offenses swapped touchdowns. All in all there were five ties and two lead changes.
In the end, Ole Miss was simply a tad bit better on this day than Arkansas.
"It's a great outcome that we won but it's a process," Kiffin said. "If you want a championship program, you don't see that everything is good.
"I wouldn't have guessed this (final) score. But it is what it is. I'm glad we won. Now we go back and get better and get healthy."
