FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The first half of the 2022 Razorback Football season was characterized mostly by defensive struggles, but for the third consecutive week, Barry Odom’s guys have posted arguably their best performance of the entire campaign.
The 27 points Ole Miss scored in its loss to Arkansas on Saturday night are a bit misleading, as the Hogs limited the Rebels to two field goals and no touchdowns through three quarters. At 42-6, the ensuing three scores were futile.
In the first nine full drives, the Razorbacks forced three field goal attempts, three turnovers, two punts and a turnover on downs. The Rebels amassed 380 yards of offense, but they had the same number of points as Arkansas had scored touchdowns.
“Coach Odom, credit to him,” senior linebacker Bumper Pool said. “He’s been doing a fantastic job getting us game plans every week. These past few weeks I feel like we’ve had just the perfect game plan.”
The Hogs held Ole Miss to a 4-11 third down conversion rate in the first 45 minutes. They had the help of a pair of offensive holding calls that negated touchdowns, one of which preceded a punt, and the other of which led to a field goal to keep the score 21-6.
The Rebels’ turnover on downs in the third quarter was soul-crushing for them. The drive lasted 15 plays, 66 yards and more than five minutes, all of which were game-highs at the time. Freshman cornerback Quincey McAdoo recorded his first career sack on third down to set up fourth-and-goal at the 5, and all Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart could do was throw it away.
“I just think that the mentality was we’re not going to lose the game, and whenever you have guys all buying into that mentality, you’re not going to be denied,” Pool said.
With two fumble recoveries and an interception, Saturday marked the fourth time all season Arkansas won the turnover battle. Junior linebacker Drew Sanders fell on a botched handoff on the opening drive to set the tone and intercepted Dart just before halftime to set up the offense’s fifth touchdown. Junior cornerback Dwight McGlothern forced and recovered a fumble from Ole Miss freshman phenom running back Quinshon Judkins after the sixth Razorback touchdown, effectively sealing the game.
“There’s a recipe to not win, and that’s minus-three in the turnover margin,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said.
While the three garbage-time touchdowns have skewed the average, the Arkansas defense has allowed just under 21 points per game over the last three contests compared to almost 32 in the first eight.
The only piece missing during this stretch has been a healthy KJ Jefferson, and his return Saturday proved Arkansas is a complete football team.
“We’ve really been playing as a unit and just coming together, and every game we just keep getting better and better,” Sanders said.
To close out the regular season, Odom and company will have another chance to shine against the team that last employed him as a head coach — Missouri. The 5-6 Tigers are fighting for bowl eligibility and average just over 25 points per game, 10 points fewer than Ole Miss.
The Battle Line Rivalry contest is set to kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Friday on CBS.
