Ole Miss is tired of losing to Arkansas
OXFORD – The seniors on the Ole Miss football team have never beaten Arkansas.
They’ve come close, never losing by more than four points in the past three years. They even took fourth-quarter leads in each game. But every year, Arkansas was the last to score.
“That’s kind of something that’s in the back of our mind,” Ole Miss center Sean Rawlings said, “that kind of pushes us a little bit, and it bothers us.”
The question Rawlings answered after practice Wednesday had been about the game’s importance as a potential springboard into the rest of Southeastern Conference play, but the senior steered talk of Saturday's matchup in Little Rock to the rivalry. It is a unique one, or as Ole Miss coach Matt Luke put it in his press conference Monday, “different.”
In another twist, the two schools can’t even agree on the all-time series record. The dispute can be traced back to a game in 1914. According to Arkansas’s records, the Razorbacks won that game due to a forfeit. Ole Miss has it down as a 13-7 victory in the Rebels’ favor. Either way, Arkansas leads the series, 36-27-1 or 35-28-1.
Ole Miss hasn’t beaten Arkansas since 2013, a 34-24 victory in Oxford. The next year the Rebels got stomped in Fayetteville, 30-0. Then started the string of close calls.
The Ole Miss loss in 2015 is the most well known, largely because of the ridiculous play that sparked the Razorbacks' comeback. Say, "fourthand-25," or, "the lateral" to any Rebels fans, and they’ll shudder.
“I remember my heart dropping on that play,” Rawlings said, avoiding naming it.
On fourth-and-25 at the Ole Miss 40, Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen connected with tight end Hunter Henry, who, as he was being tackled short of a first down, threw a lateral behind him like a hook shot. Running back Alex Collins batted the ball down, and on the bounce, wide receiver Dominique Reed scooped up the ball and ran it down to the 11-yard line. Arkansas went on to score a touchdown and two-point conversion to win the game 53-52 in overtime.