FAYETTEVILLE — On an imperfect day in the Ozarks, Arkansas parlayed a record breaking Joe Adams punt return and a career day from tailback Knile Davis into a 38-24 victory over Ole Miss.
The day veered askew for BCS No. 23 Arkansas from several angles.
There were two lightning delays in the second half that totaled 89 minutes. There were injuries to quarterback Ryan Mallett and top receivers Greg Childs and Adams, and Mallett seemed slightly off-kilter before his injury. But the Razorbacks held strong with two fourth-quarter touchdown runs by Davis, who rushed for a career-high 176 yards and three scores, and Tenarius Wright’s fumble recovery at the Arkansas 4-yard line to salvage a marathon game that took four hours, 53 minutes.
“Well it took five hours but we got the win. The thing I’m so proud about with our football team is we put last week behind us,” said Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino, referring to last week’s 65-43 loss at Auburn.
The Razorbacks (5-2, 2-2SEC) snapped a two-game losing streak to Ole Miss, stayed within two games of the lead in the SEC West and defeated former coach Houston Nutt for the first time in three tries.
“It was time,” Arkansas defensive end Jake Bequette said. “We had lost two in a row to these guys and we owed them one.”
It was Bequette’s sack and strip of Ole Miss quarterback Jeremiah Masoli that foiled a first-quarter Rebels possession after linebacker Allen Walker intercepted Mallett’s first pass of the game.
Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3) fell into sole possession of last place in the division, and the Rebels will have a battle to obtain bowl eligibility with their remaining schedule.
“We’ve been a team like this all year,” Nutt said. “We had too many missed opportunities. When you get an opportunity like the interception in the first quarter, you have to take advantage of it and get them down.”
Adams had a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown, keyed by Jarius Wright’s block on punter Tyler Campbell, to put Arkansas on top 21-0 midway through the second quarter.
Arkansas held the Rebels to 145 total yards in the first half while building a 21-3 lead that grew to 24-3 on Zach Hocker’s46-yard field goal early in the third period.
But Masoli got hot with his feet and arm, powering the Rebels to 367 yards in the second half. Masoli had 98 rushing yards and went 21 of 36 for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air.
“We’re a better team than Arkansas,” Masoli said. “It didn’t show today, but we’re a better team and we believed it.”
Mallett hit 13 of 24 passes for 196 yards and a 23-yard touchdown to Greg Childs before an injury to his right shoulder knocked him out of a second consecutive game.
“It was just one time I fell on it wrong,” Mallett said.
Petrino said Mallett lost some strength in the shoulder, but anticipates him being recovered for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.
Tyler Wilson came on with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter and the Hogs hanging on to a 24-10 lead.
The Rebels closed within seven points twice after that, but Arkansas’ ground game made the difference.
“Coach was confident in me getting it done, and I went out there and did it,” Davis said.
“He had two big-time runs that just shut the game down, and our offensive line did a great job blocking,” Wilson said. “There were huge holes there.”
Davis’ 71-yard delay over the left side came just two snaps after Ole Miss had pulled within 24-17 on Masoli’s 43-yard scoring pass to Markeith Summers, the first of two touchdown connections between the two.
Arkansas led 38-24 when Ole Miss drove to the Hogs’ 1 with about five minutes remaining. Jermaine Love and Elton Ford stuffed a Brandon Bolden leap on second-and-goal from the 1, then Bolden fumbled a Wildcat snap on the next play and Arkansas’ Tenarius Wright recovered.
“I just dropped the ball and couldn’t get on it fast enough,” Bolden said.
“The running back kind of bobbled the ball, he fumbled it and I took the opportunity to make the play,” Wright said.
The Arkansas defense, maligned for its laggard performance in the loss at Auburn last week, showed up playing fast and with a sound game plan against Masoli, Ole Miss’ dual-threat quarterback.
“The difference was we executed and we tackled,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said, referring to the first half.
Arkansas ran for a season high 197 yards against an Ole Miss team that ranked 23rd nationally against the run, allowing 113 yards per game.
“We knew they were a high-powered offense and would make some plays,” Ole Miss defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix said. “What bothers you is the poor fundamentals, missed tackles.”
Arkansas and Ole Miss played to a 14-14 tie in the fourth quarter, with Davis’ 114 rushing yards and two scores allowing Arkansas to close out the Rebels, after Arkansas had been outscored 52-15 in the fourth quarters of its first three SEC games.
“I was proud that we finished the game running the ball,” Petrino said.
Sports, Pages 27 on 10/24/2010