Ole Miss Drops Wild Game to Arkansas

Sometimes, football doesn’t make sense.

Trailing seven points in the first overtime and facing a 4th-and-25 from the 40-yard line, Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen completed a pass to Hunter Henry to the 26-yard line. Henry, while being tackled to the ground, flung the ball 20-some yards backwards to Alex Collins, who caught it on a hop and raced for a first down to the 11-yard line.

Allen then found Drew Morgan from nine yards out to pull Arkansas within 52-51. The Razorbacks elected to go for two, and Allen was wrapped up for a sack to seemly end the game, but a face mask penalty on Marquis Haynes moved the ball to the one-and-a-half yard line. Allen then took the QB keeper up the middle to convert the attempt and give Arkansas a 53-52 victory.

Chad Kelly danced, ducked, ran, threw and tried to will Ole Miss to victory Saturday. The junior signal caller passed for 368 yards, ran for 110 more on the ground and accounted for six touchdowns. Kelly was responsible for 478 of Ole Miss’ 590 yards of total offense. He bobbed and weaved in the pocket, finding open receivers and running lanes all night to answer every Razorbacks score.

Kelly raced into the endzone from eight yards out in the first overtime for his sixth score of the night to put Ole Miss up 52-45, but that was the last time he would touch the ball.

“It is an extremely difficult way to end the game,” said Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze. “I hurt for our kids, for our coaches, our fans and our administration. You put so much into this deal and then you lose a game like tonight that comes down to the wire. It is very difficult and gut wrenching. It will test everything about you.”

In a wild, back-and-forth game that featured five lead changes, eight-straight scoring drives and 1,195 yards of total offense, the Razorbacks jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with 4:46 left in the first quarter after Allen found Morgan open over the middle for a 31-yard touchdown pass. Allen finished the game with 442 yards passing and six TDs.

The Rebels responded on the next possession with a 77-yard scoring drive capped by a three-yard touchdown plunge by Jaylen Walton that tied the game at seven at the end of the first quarter. Arkansas retook the lead with 7:28 left in the first half when Allen found Dominque Reed in the corner of the endzone from 1 5 yards out to give the Hogs a 14-7 lead.

Kelly once again led the Rebels down the field and capped a 78-yard scoring drive with an 11-yard TD scamper to tie the game at 14 with 5:05 remaining in the second quarter.

Arkansas’ Cole Hedlund connected on a 45-yard field goal attempt with 43 ticks left before half that would seemly give the Razorbacks a 17-14 lead heading to the locker room. However, Kelly lead the Rebels down the field 55 yards in 43 seconds, highlighted by a 30-yard catch and run from Laquon Treadwell, to set up Gary Wunderlich for a 37-yard field attempt that tie the game at 17 as time expired. Treadwell finished the game with seven catches for 132 yards and a score. He also set a school record with his sixth 100-yard receiving game of the season and became just the second 1,000-yard receiver in school history.

Kelly came out blazing to start the third quarter, as he led the Rebels 60 yards on six plays in 1:44 culminated by a 23-yard scoring strike to Damore’ea Stringfellow that gave Ole Miss a 24-17 lead. The Razorbacks once again answered the bell, as Allen found Jared Cornelius open over the middle for a 30-yard TD pass that tie the game at 24.

Not to be outdone, Kelly found Treadwell for 42 yards down the sideline to set Ole Miss up at the 3-yard line on the next drive. On the proceeding play, Kelly took a quarterback keeper up the middle for his second rushing score of the night to put the Rebels back up 31-24 with 7:38 left in the third. Arkansas answered with this second score of the quarter, a 3-yard TD run by Kody Walker, to tie the game once again at 31 after three quarters.

Following a Rebel punt, Allen found Morgan across the middle again this time from 11 yards out three minutes into the fourth quarter to give Arkansas a 38-31 lead.

Facing its first deficit since second quarter, Kelly once again worked his magic and lead Ole Miss on a six-play, 83 yard scoring drive capped by, what else, but a Laquon Treadwell 17-yard touchdown catch.

Kelly then took over at the Ole Miss 19-yard line and directed the Rebels 81 yards down the field, capping the drive by finding Quincy Adeboyejo, who took a swing pass 18 yards for the score and gave the Rebels a 45-38 lead. Not to be out done, Allen found Dominque Reed in the back of the endzone from 17 yards out to tie the game at 45 with 43 seconds left. The Razorbacks got the ball back after Ole Miss failed on a 4th-and-6 from midfield, and had a chance to win the game, but Tony Bridges blocked Hedlund’s 47-yard attempt with three seconds left that sent the game to overtime.

The Rebels will be on a bye next week, before welcoming the LSU Tigers to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Nov. 21. The game time will be set Monday by the Southeastern Conference.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports