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Arkansas didn’t join the SEC until 1992, but its rivalry with Ole Miss dates back much further than the last 22 years.
The Razorbacks and Rebels first met on the gridiron in 1908, meeting 61 times since then. More than a century later, these two teams have maintained a near-even series, and the rivalry has only intensified since the Hogs joined Ole Miss in the SEC West.
In honor of “Throwback Thursday” and this weekend’s showdown between Arkansas and Ole Miss in Fayetteville, let’s take a look at some of the best matchups these two teams have produced throughout the years:
All-time record: Arkansas leads 32-28-1
Current streak: Ole Miss, won 2
Longest win streaks: Arkansas 5 (1985-1989), Ole Miss 6 (1958-1970)
BIG MOMENTS IN ARKANSAS-OLE MISS SERIES HISTORY:
2012: You know that 17-game SEC losing streak Arkansas just snapped with last week’s win over LSU? Well that streak began in the middle of the 2012 season, when Ole Miss took down the Razorbacks by a final score of 30-27 thanks to a 31-yard field goal by Bryson Rose as time expired. Ironically, the Rebels’ had just snapped a 16-game SEC losing streak of their own one week earlier, and the win over Arkansas marked their first winning streak in the conference since 2009.
The game in 2012 went back and forth for most of the first three quarters, as Ole Miss fell behind 10-0 early then recovered to take a 21-17 lead into halftime. The Rebels led 27-20 in the final minutes of the game until Arkansas tailback Dennis Johnson ran in a 4-yard touchdown to tie the game with just 2:09 remaining on the clock, tying the game at 27-all.
However, then-first-year starter Bo Wallace moved the Ole Miss offense 61 yards on eight plays to set up Rose’s game-winning field goal, giving the Rebels a much-needed win on their way to a bowl berth in head coach Hugh Freeze’s first year on the job.
2008: Former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt was dismissed from his position following the 2007 season due to a number of alleged rules violations surrounding him and the Razorbacks program. Just hours later, he was hired as the head coach of the Ole Miss football program, and that October he returned to Fayetteville for the first time as an opposing coach in one of the best games in the history of the Arkansas-Ole Miss series.
Ole Miss led for most of the game, extending its lead to as big as 13 points in the third quarter following a touchdown strike from Jevan Snead to Mike Wallace. However, the Razorbacks wouldn’t go away, and after chipping away at the lead for much of the second half they cut the deficit to just two points when Casey Dick found Greg Childs for a 22-yard touchdown with just 1:07 remaining.
Arkansas recovered the ensuing onside kick and had a chance to drive for a game-winning field goal to spoil Nutt’s homecoming. Unfortunately for the Hogs, the offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs, giving Nutt one of the best wins of his career at Ole Miss. The win also marked the Rebels first victory over Arkansas since the 2003 season.
2001: Seven overtimes — that’s what it took for Arkansas to finally finish off an incredible 58-56 victory over Ole Miss in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss in 2001. If you’re wondering, the seven overtimes are a record that still stands today, matched only one other time in SEC history (ironically by Arkansas when it took down Kentucky in 2003).
The game in ’01 was tied 7-7 at halftime and 17-17 at the end of regulation. Arkansas took a 10-7 lead in the third quarter, but Ole Miss answered with a field goal of its own. The Razorbacks scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, but once again Eli Manning and the Rebels would answer with a touchdown to tie the game at 17-all and force overtime.
The call-and-response pattern established in the second half of regulation was the perfect foreshadowing for the chaos that would ensue, as both teams scored touchdowns on their first possessions of overtime then went scoreless in the second overtime. Upon entering the third overtime, both teams were forced to attempt two-point conversions following every touchdown, and this rule would eventually help decide the final outcome of the game.
Arkansas scored first in the third overtime but failed on the two-point conversion. Manning and the Rebels scored a game-tying touchdown with their turn in the third extra session, but they, too, failed on a two-point try that would have won the game right then and there. Ole Miss scored a touchdown to begin the fourth overtime and failed on the two-point try; Arkansas answered with a touchdown and then missed on a potential game-winning two-point conversion of its own.
Both teams scored touchdowns in the fifth overtime and failed on both two-point conversion attempts, then both teams scored touchdowns in the sixth overtime and successfully converted both two-point tries. The game was tied 50-50 heading into the seventh overtime, and it seemed the game might last until the following Saturday.
Mark Pierce ran in an Arkansas touchdown to begin the seventh overtime, and Matt Jones found Decori Birmingham on the two-point try to put Arkansas ahead 58-50. Ole Miss responded with a touchdown on its turn in the seventh overtime, but Manning’s pass to Doug Ziegler was broken up, giving Arkansas a remarkable two-point win.
The two teams combined to post 988 yards of offense, 60 first downs, 198 plays and four 100-yard rushers. Manning threw for six touchdowns in defeat.
1963: The two teams concluded the 1962 season with a meeting in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in 1963, as Ole Miss aimed to cap a perfect 10-0 season while Arkansas hoped to avenge a Sugar Bowl loss to Alabama the previous year.
The two teams traded field goals in the first half, and Ole Miss took a 10-3 lead into halftime on a touchdown toss from Glynn Griffing to Louis Guy in the second quarter. The Hogs answered with a game-tying Billy Moore touchdown run in the third quarter, but Ole Miss answered right back with a go-ahead touchdown run by Griffing later in the quarter.
Arkansas cut the deficit to four with a field goal late in the third quarter, but the Ole Miss defense stepped up and shut the Razorbacks out in the fourth quarter, holding on to a 17-13 win to finish off an undefeated season.
The Rebels claimed a share of the 1962 national championship with the win, and it marks the last national title claimed by Ole Miss in the program’s history.
1954: Arkansas won the 1954 meeting between these two teams by a final score of just 6-0, but the lone scoring play of the day was as memorable as it gets.
The two teams were engaged in quite the defensive struggle, as the score indicates, but an unlikely 66-yard halfback pass from the Razorbacks’ Buddy Bob Benson to wideout Preston Carpenter resulted in the only points of the game, earning Arkansas the victory.
Both teams would go on to lose in bowl games that winter (bowl berth were much tougher to come by back then), but this game remains one of the most bizarre in the history of the rivalry.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
