Ole Miss needed some late-game heroics to sneak out a 27-20 win over Arkansas in Week 6. Thanks to Ulysses Bentley IV’s touchdown with less than 8 minutes remaining in regulation, the Rebels are 5-1 (2-1 SEC).

They weren’t perfect, but Lane Kiffin’s team made it 2 straight wins going into the open week. They’ll take some time to rest and gear up for the back end of the 2023 slate, which starts on Oct. 21 against an Auburn team that took No. 1 Georgia to the limit in Week 5 before falling 27-20.

Player of the Week: RB Ulysses Bentley IV

Bentley has given the Ole Miss staff something to thing about after stringing together 2 terrific performances in a row. This time around, he went for 94 yards on 13 carries, including his 7-yard touchdown run to put the Rebels up for good in the 4th. It came a week after he had 9 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown against LSU.

Kiffin made it clear after the game why he opted to ride Bennett more than he did Quinshon Judkins, who had a respectable evening against the Razorbacks (18 carries, 65 yards, 1 TD) but is well behind the pace of his dynamic freshman season.

“If somebody’s hot, it don’t matter what you did the year before, where you came from, how many stars, what you did in the portal, any of that stuff. And I think you see it by the way we play players. If someone’s hot, we’re going to go to him,” Kiffin said.

Freshman of the Week: LB Suntarine Perkins

The Rebels’ 5-star recruit at linebacker was at it again on Saturday. He had 2 tackles against LSU, but totaled 4 tackles and was credited with half a sack against the Razorbacks.

The Raleigh (Miss.) product, considered the country’s top linebacker in the class of 2023, now leads the team with 3.5 sacks. He’s been exactly what Kiffin and his staff hoped for when they recruited him, and with at least 2 seasons to go after this one, he has a chance to become a major impact player for this defense.

Biggest surprise: The defense’s response

Make no mistake: Ole Miss could count itself fortunate to have beaten LSU in Week 5. It allowed Jayden Daniels to go for over 400 yards and gave up an average of 6 yards a carry on the ground. On a night where defense was optional, the Rebels were simply less bad than the Tigers.

Saturday marked a major response as Pete Golding’s defense yielded just 286 yards, the fewest yards it’s given up outside of FCS Mercer to start the season. It was also the 2nd time it’s allowed under 300 yards all season. It also picked off KJ Jefferson twice, its 1st multi-interception game in 2023.

Biggest concern: Third-down efficiency, or lack thereof

The Rebels struggled on 3rd down, only going 4-of-14 in that department. They entered the evening just outside the bottom 50 in that department and didn’t help their cause against the Razorbacks.

They did convert a pair of 4th downs: 1 late in the 2nd quarter on a Arkansas illegal substitution penalty on a Rebels punt, and later in the 4th quarter during the scoring drive that saw them jump in front.

Developing trend: Ulysses Bentley’s production

Again, Kiffin mentioned that he would ride the hot hand when it came to running the football, even if it meant Bentley getting the lion’s share of carries ahead of Judkins.

Whether or not that was a message sent to Judkins — who has just 1 game rushing for over 100 yards this season after 8 such games as a freshman — Bentley’s made the most of his opportunities. After 2 carries against Tulane, he had 6 for 61 yards against Georgia Tech. He had just 1 carry against Alabama but has had 22 in the past 2 games combined (9 against LSU, 13 against Arkansas) for 184 yards. He’s also averaging 7.4 yards an attempt this season vs. Judkins’ 4.1 YPC.

Key stat: 36

The Rebels’ run defense was sensational a week after it gave up 223 yards to LSU and allowed 6 yards per carry. On Saturday, Arkansas managed just 36 yards on 29 attempts, just over a yard per run. That’s the fewest rushing yards allowed by the Rebels under Kiffin, beating out Mississippi State’s 39-yard effort in the 2020 Egg Bowl.

First impression about Week 7: Open week before Auburn

The Rebels don’t control their own destiny if they’re to have a shot at an SEC West title thanks to a loss to Alabama. But it will go into the open week with some confidence after taking down LSU and Arkansas in consecutive weeks. It also gives Jaxson Dart and Tre Harris, who were both banged up, time to get healthy.

Up next is Auburn on Oct. 21, followed by Vanderbilt. Kiffin’s team can ill afford to look past the Tigers — by all accounts, it’s a trap game that could derail their hopes at a New Year’s 6 bid. The last thing they’ll need is traveling to Georgia (Nov. 11) with 2 or more losses on their ledger.