Notebook: Ole Miss Rebels Lay an Egg Versus Arkansas Ahead of The Egg Bowl
OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss Rebels nearly beat highly touted Alabama last week, but you would have never guessed it after their humiliating performance this week against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Ole Miss lost their second consecutive game to an SEC opponent Saturday night, losing 42-27 to Arkansas. The Rebels’ defense looked like had never played a snap together, and the offense had several costly penalties early on, despite an extremely productive day on the stat sheet.
The Razorbacks did not allow a single Rebel touchdown until the beginning of the fourth quarter, and by then, they had already established themselves as the better team, leading by 30 points. It felt like every carry Arkansas’ sophomore running back Raheim Sanders was given had the potential to go for six points as he averaged 9.7 yards per carry.
Here are the biggest takeaways from tonight’s game.
Penalties, penalties, and more penalties
Penalties haunted the Rebels’ offense and defense all night. Besides a very suspect holding call that took away a touchdown from Rebels’ junior receiver Dayton Wade in the beginning of the game, the Rebels could not stay out of their own way. Ole Miss committed 12 penalties for 116 yards compared to just seven penalties for 61 yards committed by Arkansas.
Turnovers
Ole Miss turned the ball over three times compared to zero from Arkansas. The Rebels fumbled on the very first drive of the game with a miscommunication between Wade and sophomore quarterback Jaxson Dart on a handoff. Then, Dart threw an interception to Arkansas linebacker Drew Sanders with a minute left in the first half. The last turnover was a very uncharacteristic fumble from Ole Miss freshman running back Quinshon Judkins who coughed up the ball at the beginning of the second half.
Early Red Zone Failures
The Rebels finished the game 3-of-5 in the red zone. But their inability to capitalize in the red zone in the beginning of the game was a major reason they fell behind early. Two holding calls took two touchdowns off the board, forcing Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin to send the kicking unit out on the field three times in one game.
Quinshon Judkins breaks Ole Miss’ single-season rushing record
There are no moral victories with this Rebels’ team, and there should not be after a poor performance like tonight, but Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins is in rarified air. He continues to run through every opponent he faces, adding another 200-yard performance to his resume, his second of the season. Judkins had 24 carries, 214 yards, and one score for an average of 8.9 yards per carry.
Junior running back Zach Evans also chipped in 17 carries, 207 yards, and one touchdown for an average of 12.2 yards per carry. This was Evans’ fourth outing of 100 rushing yards in a game and his first 200-yard rushing game on the year.
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