The pain and stinging prickle of defeat spread across the face of Head Coach Hugh Freeze as he sat in a small room outside of the visiting locker room at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback stadium, the site of Ole Miss’ third straight defeat to Arkansas, this one by a score of 34-30.
“It stings,” Freeze said. “It hurts. Give credit to them, but we certainly leave here feeling like we let one get away.”
Ole Miss did let one get away. Victory slipped from its hands in the waining minutes of the fourth quarter as Arkansas marched 56 yards, getting a third down and fourth down conversion before a Jared Cornelius 6-yard touchdown rush put the Razorbacks ahead for one final time with 2:20 remaining in the game.
Ole Miss struggled to defend the run in the first half, yielding 141 yards on the ground in the first half alone.
“I thought they knocked us off the ball and had a lot of success running it in the first half,” Defensive Coordinator Dave Wommack said. “I thought we did a better job of taking away the run of the second half, but it is disappointing. We’ve got to learn how to get better each week as player, as a coach. Anything can happen. One play makes a difference in games like that and we have to find a way to overcome that.”
After Ole Miss fell behind 17-6 by way of two Austin Allen touchdown passes and a field goal, the team garnered some momentum. It had drives of 67 and 90 yards that ended respectively on Akeem Judd and Chad Kelly touchdown rushes. Ole Miss headed into the locker room tied at 20. Kelly was 18-39 for 253 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He had 89 yards rushing as well.
“We thought we were going to be able to do what we wanted to do and we did,” Kelly said. “We’ve just got to execute. That’s what it comes down to.”
The fact of the matter is, Ole Miss didn’t execute well enough to win the game. Kelly completed less than 5o percent of his passes. Drops plagued a receiving corps that has been a beaming light for this team. In one instance, Damor’ea Stringfellow and Van Jefferson had drops on second and third down that gave the ball back to the Razorbacks before they delivered their final punch.
“It was quite surprising really,” Freeze said. “No one will feel worse about it than they do, and I know that they’ll come back to work. They happened at really critical times on critical drives.”
Perhaps the one bright spot in that department was tight end Evan Engram, whose seven catches for 11 yards and a touchdown terrorized the Razorback defense in the middle of the field.
“I’m just playing ball,” Engram said. “We needed a win tonight. That’s all I care about. I just show up and make plays for my team when I have to.”
The pace and style shifted in the second half. Only seven points total were scored in the third quarter.
Ole Miss got stops. The defense kept it in the game. It gave them opportunities, and Ole Miss took advantage eventually. A Marquis Haynes interception sparked a 45-yard drive resulting in Kelly’s second touchdown run, giving the Rebels a 30-27 lead with nine minutes remaining in the game.
The defense held firm after that as well, but the offense couldn’t put its foot on the throat, and eventually the Rebels succumbed on the game’s penultimate drive to Allen and a Razorback offense that hung 429 yards of total offense.
“I thought they played well enough to gives us a chance to win it and we never took control offensively,” Freeze said.
Through all the back and fourth, the momentum changes and lead-changing hands, Ole Miss had a chance late. Down 34-30 with two minutes remaining, it had an opportunity to exorcise its demons against a team that had given it fits the last two years, but it sputtered to a halt after Kelly was stopped short of the line to gain on a desperate scramble on fourth and 16.
“I saw Van (Jefferson) over to the left. He beat him off press coverage and then he fell down and next you know the safety rolled,” Kelly said. “The guy was behind me and they did a little twist, and I tried taking off.”
The 3-3 Rebels will feel the sting of this loss, but it’s not the first time its had such a feeling in Freeze’s tenure. Freeze often speaks of a journey and it’s what he preached to his young and hurting team tonight as it somberly walked out of a resounding stadium celebrating a much-needed win.
“You’ve got to see the big picture,” Freeze said. “It’s hard to now sitting here. It’s hard for our kids in the locker room right now. But we have had the ability to bounce back and go compete again and I expect nothing less.”
