The Arkansas Razorbacks will head over to Oxford for an SEC west match-up against the Mississippi State Rebels Saturday evening. Ole Miss will look for redemption though as last year they were blown out 30-0 by Arkansas.
Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema said that he’s sure this game has been on Ole Miss’s schedule.
The Razorbacks are 4-4 and are coming off of two straight wins, the latest a 63-28 shootout against Tennessee-Martin. In that game Arkansas running back, and Florida native, Alex Collins went off with an impressive five touchdown performance with 173 yards. Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen also had a good game throwing 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.
No. 19 Ole Miss beat Auburn last week 27-19 and improved their record to 7-2. Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly was the factor in this game as he threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns, but also throwing two interceptions. He also threw the eventual game-sealing touchdown to Laquan Treadwell. Ole Miss’s defense was also clutch in this game, holding off Auburn to a field goal four times.
Arkansas faced off with Auburn just two weeks ago where they also beat the Tigers by eight points winning 54-46. In that that game, Allen tossed three touchdowns and Collins ran for one. Also the Razorbacks gave up all of Auburn’s touchdowns on the ground, four of which to running back Peyton Barber who also gained 120 yards. When Ole Miss saw Barber last week, they held him to just 17 yards and no touchdowns.
When comparing these teams directly, Arkansas puts more into their running game than Ole Miss does with their premiere back in Collins who has 12 total touchdowns. The Rebels’ rushing touchdowns are divided more evenly with four backs having 3 or more.
In the air, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly has about 800 more yards than Allen with five more touchdowns. But even though Kelly has about 100 more attempts, he has seven more interceptions than Allen.
Defensively, the Rebels rank 35th in total defense while Arkansas ranks 61st. Ole Miss is also ranked 25th in run stopping, so it will be interesting to see them against Collins.
Kickoff is set for 3:30 on Saturday.