Arkansas Razorbacks

#1 Arkansas Comes Back in Rivalry Game, Dominates Ole Miss

October 23, 2010

Game Report Posted: July 18, 2010 17:02  

Being down 7-0 midway through the second quarter did not to stop Arkansas, as from that point forward Arkansas did the little things right on route to a 34-7 win over the rival Rebels from Ole Miss.

"We found ourselves in a hole, and that is where we had to pick ourselves up again," said Coach Petrino, whose team unprobably found themselves up 14-7 at half.

For a quarter and a half, Ryan Mallett had no time to throw, resulting in two interceptions and countless sacks.

"Ole Miss did a good job of putting pressure on us early on, and Coach switched the gameplan to a quick-pass offense out of the shotgun," said Mallett, who finished the day 25-36 for 399 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Up 7-0, Ole Miss twice had possession to go up more, the first time having to punt after a Mallett interception, and the second time and interception which allowed Arkansas to start out at the Ole Miss 35 yard line.

From there, Arkansas quickly worked down the field to tie the game on a Ronnie Wingo TD run from 1 yard out on 3rd down.

Ole Miss again had a chance to go on top, but a three and out gave Arkansas a chance to score before the half, and Mallett quickly converted two long passes to Greg Childs for the TD.

"The big change in the game was for us to not sit back on defense, but to attack Ole Miss and the quarterback," said defensive end Jake Bequette. Arkansas is none more as a man-defense, lack of pressure team, but today they made it their goal from the second quarter on to attack and blitz Ole Miss, and it worked.

The Ole Miss offense continued to look flustered, and Arkansas took advantage, kicking field goals on their two possessions in the third quarter to take a 20-7 lead in the fourth.

But that is where things got interesting. Ole Miss completed a long pass out of their half of the field to set them up at the Arkansas 44 yard line with 4:30 left in the game. It was then when Arkansas dialed up the heavy blitz, resulting in a misfired pass into the flats with Tramain Thomas returned all the way for a TD.

"What can I say. The pressure was there and that was the only option he had. I got a few steps on the pass and was off," said Thomas after the game, whose INT built up a 24-7 lead for the Razorbacks with 4:14 remaining.

Arkansas would score once more for good measure, a Ryan Mallett pass to Joe Adams with 3:05 left to put Arkansas up 34-7 for good measure.

For more on game stats, click on Ole Miss in the schedule.