Photo: Ole Miss coach celebrates prematurely
Arkansas’ fourth-and-25 conversion in overtime last Saturday against Ole Miss was probably one of the craziest plays you will ever see.
Arkansas needed to get 25 yards or the game would be over. Tight end Hunter Henry caught a pass well short of the first down, and Ole Miss defenders Tony Bridges and Trae Elston converged to make a potential game-ending tackle.
At that point, Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze and others on the Rebels’ sideline began to celebrate, thinking the game was over. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t.
Out of desperation, as this photo was being snapped, Henry blindly lateraled the ball backwards, hoping a teammate would get it and find a way to get a first down.
That is exactly what happened. The ball bounced on the turf near Arkansas running back Alex Collins, who picked it up and raced 29 yards for a first down. Two plays later, the Razorbacks scored, then won the game 53-52 on Brandon Allen’s two-point conversion run.
The win improved Arkansas’ record to 5-4, and it ended Ole Miss’ hopes of an SEC title.
Everyone thought it was over.
I know I sure did! So nervous I threw up.
I don’t care for this type of article — everyone watching it thought it over and I don’t fault the Ole Miss Coach, players or fans for celebrating. This article doesn’t support sportsmen ship of the game.
if you want to talk about Hunter Henry’s “football awareness” trying to keep the play alive and all the variables that happened on that one play then great but to, IMO, ridicule Ole Miss, specifically the coach, it’s bad form.
Are you serious?!?
This is SDS, plenty of folks get poked fun at all the time. It’s part of CFB, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Just like I love watching hilarious Ole Miss gaffes, I know they’ll love making fun of us.
It’s part of the game, put yer big boy britches on and deal with it. Relax……
I agree with Moo State here.
But I do take issue with the article questioning whether it was a lateral or not. And I take issue with the author calling it a blind heave. He was clearly looking back, and threw it pretty close to Collins given the circumstances.
Well said!
“everyone” did not think it was over, just Ole Miss fans.
How could you not think it was over. I certainly did. I was shocked amazed excited and pumped when that play fully unfolded but I absolutely (for a second) thought it was over.
I can say with certainty that while that ball was in the air, I did NOT hear any fat lady singing. It ain’t over until it’s over!!!
I thought it was over. And then running around the room high 5ing and chest bumping about 10 seconds later. Only because I’m a big Hog fan….. NOT!
I thought maybe the coaches thought the player had stepped out of bounds when I saw their reaction. As poorly as our defense played, we deserved to be laughed at!
Our SEC title hopes are probably over, but we still have a shot to win it. If state beats Alabama and we win out, we would win
Oh wow. Should be an interesting weekend for the Black Bears, having to root for State.
Since you’re dreaming……And if we win out and get a little help, Dak will win the Heisman and we will will the SEC West and go back to Atlanta…. a place that Ole Miss has never been.
You need to correct your username. There is only one D-A-W-G in the SEC. No where in the history of your fan base has anyone ever spelled your mascot that way. I find your username disrespectful and tasteless. I hate everything about you and your “dream”.
God Bless tho
Well there’s only one H-A-W-G in the nation. And we have a better chance of making it than either of y’all.
Considering what we’ve been through recently… just let that sink in for a bit.
They’ve been to Atlanta … to the Peach Bowl … just sayin’.
The only way state could win the west was if LSU lost out, and they won out. Even if LSU loses out, state still has to win at Arkansas and beat Bama and Ole Miss. Wi would say we have a better shot than state. And also, its highly unlikely that Dak even makes it to New York
…lateral, (if you want to call it that).
Is there really anyone who thinks that deliberately throwing bacwards, a high-arcing ball, 15 yards down field – is a fumble?? Haha!
This is just SDS either stirring the pot or maybe a big Rebel fan lurking that can’t let it go. They also wrote “potentially illegal…” in another column yesterday, days after literally every referee who has commented has said it was the right call.
There is no controversy, no gray area, no ambiguity.
By definition, whether deliberate or not, it was a fumble. It could be advanced because it was not a forward moving “fumble”.
Actually, it’s a muff. Not a funble.
Yes, the first person touched the ball during the lateral but did not possess it and therefore muffed it before it hit the ground as a fumble.
A muff is the action of touching but never possessing a live ball on a free kick or lateral. Muffing the ball does not change it’s status therefore the result of a muff is a live ball on the ground which is a fumble.
Lateral
Verb
To throw (a football) in a sideways or backward direction.
Do you say an option pitch is a fumble?
Yes actually, both the NFL and NCAA rule a dropped lateral a fumble. If the ball is thrown even slightly forward and dropped, it is an incompletion.
Both you and Eyvind can feel free to check the NCAA rulebook for everything I’m telling you as I have.
Rule 2, Section 11
Rule 7, Section 2
Ole Miss guys are always premature; that’s what Ole Miss girls say.
I know. Good one. Thank you.
This comment makes me wish sds had a ‘like’ feature…
With good coaching, this Ole Miss team probably could have done great things. Unfortunately, they will lose at least 4 games this year.
Umm, because it WAS over???