By Derek Oxford
Special to the Gazette
LITTLE ROCK-It was deja vu for Arkansas on Saturday night at a rain-soaked War Memorial Stadium.
Ole Miss 37, Arkansas 33, should come as a surprise to no one that has covered this team over the last three seasons.
A lead in the fourth quarter never feels safe for the Razorbacks. Sure enough, Ole Miss found a way to drive 84 and 97 yards on two drives late in the second half after trailing 33-24 and escaped with a hard-fought SEC win.
"We let some guys get loose up the sideline and we didn't tackle very well," Arkansas head coach Chad Morris said. "We didn't help ourselves out. All year long if you asked what unit wanted on the field with 97 yards to go, I would take (our defense)."
Jordan Ta'amu accounted for 528 all-purpose yards from his quarterback position, and the Rebels would compile 611 yards as a team on the night.
His ability to use his legs to extend plays flummoxed Arkansas all evening, especially in the fourth quarter.
"Most of the yards came from the quarterback and he played a pretty huge factor for them on that side of the ball," Arkansas linebacker De'Jon Harris said. "We weren't expecting that. So, that really was the problem."
In two losses to Football Bowl Subdivision teams in which Arkansas has held a fourth quarter lead, it has been outscored 30-0 in that final stanza.
"It's tough in any game just to play well in the first half and not finish in the second half," Harris said. "You always want to start a game fast and always finish strong."
The Razorbacks will attempt to try to correct it next Saturday against Tulsa for Homecoming. Neither team holds a FBS victory this season.
"I think the biggest thing we have to do is we'll continue to go back to work," Morris said. "That's what I shared our players in there, it's not going to change. Our formula is not going to change. We're going to keep getting back in there and getting better. We've got to win plays. That was my message the whole second half after halftime. I could not care less what the score is, we've got to win more plays in the second half than they do and you will like the outcome. You can't let one play affect the next one regardless of what the score is."