Ja-Mes Logan and I’Tavius Mathers celebrate after Logans’ touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Arkansas in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. (DM Photo/Vince Davis)
For the second year in a row, the Ole Miss Rebels will be heading to a bowl game. The Rebels (6-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) earned their sixth win of the year Saturday with a 34-24 win over conference foe Arkansas (3-7, 0-6 SEC).
After having to wait until the last game of the season last year, Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said it was a relief to go ahead and get that sixth win out of the way.
“We’re very excited to be bowl eligible with three games remaining,” Freeze said. “We knew this would be a tough game for us. It’s good to get guys healed up during an off week, but it seemed we played a little sluggish. It’s a great sign for our program in year two that we’re able to win an SEC football game and not play our best.”
The Rebels were powered by a career day from junior quarterback Bo Wallace, who racked up 407 yards passing going 26 for 33 with three touchdowns.
“Bo’s day was phenomenal,” Freeze said. “Thought he had a great day, and the receivers played well.”
The receiving core had a day for the ages with two receivers, junior Donte Moncrief and senior Ja-Mes Logan, surpassing 100 yards. It was the first time since 2003 that two Rebel receivers went over 100 yards in the same game. Moncrief finished with seven catches for 149 yards and a touchdown, while Logan had five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown of his own.
“I haven’t had receivers to this level at other schools,” Freeze said. “I’ve followed Ole Miss football for a long time, and our group could arguably be one of the top receiving corps throughout history.”
The Rebels controlled the game for the most part, but Arkansas gave them a fight toward the end of the game. The Razorbacks got on the board first with a field goal early in the first quarter from Zach Hocker, but Ole Miss answered with a 42-yard field goal of its own off the foot of senior kicker Andrew Ritter.
Senior quarterback Barry Brunetti pushed the Rebel lead to 10-3 with a 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, and Ritter added another field goal, this time from 19 yards out to increase the lead to 10.
Arkansas came roaring back, however.
Late in the second quarter, Razorback quarterback Brandon Allen connected with tight end Hunter Henry from 17 yards out to cut the lead to three, but Ole Miss answered with a touchdown of its own. This time it was Wallace connecting with freshman receiver Laquon Treadwell for a 14-yard score, and the teams headed into the locker room with the Rebels leading 20-10.
Arkansas once again pulled within three early in the third on a 1-yard touchdown run from Kiero Small, but from then on Ole Miss took over.
Wallace threw two long touchdowns to Logan and Moncrief from 75 and 52 yards out, respectively, to give the Rebels a 34-17 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
Arkansas added a touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Allen to Julian Horton, but it was too little, too late for the Razorbacks to stage a comeback.
Offensively, the Rebels registered another 500-plus total yard game, mainly behind the arm of Wallace, while the defense held the Razorbacks to just 389 yards of total offense and also held star freshman running back Alex Collins to just 57 yards on the ground.
Freeze said one positive that could be taken from the game for sure was that he believed the team came out a bit sluggish but was still able to win without playing its best game.
“We are maturing and heading in the right direction,” Freeze said. “We’re still young at a lot of places. I was concerned about how we would react to the first early game. We didn’t have quite the energy early in the game, but we still won the game.”
Now, the Rebels will look to build upon a resume that could eventually get them into a better bowl, and Wallace believes that is what on everyone’s mind.
“It’s in everybody’s,” Wallace said. “People can say it’s not, but we’re not trying to go to a 6-6 bowl. We’re trying to go to a bowl game with nine wins. That’s on our mind right now.”
Ole Miss hosts Troy Saturday at 11 a.m.
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— Matt Sigler
