Sunday Leftovers: Pete Golding and the Ole Miss defense righted the ship against Arkansas

How do you win an SEC football game? In the trenches, baby, in the trenches.

A year ago, Arkansas rushed for 352 yards and 7.8 yards a carry in a big win for the Hogs. This year – yesterday – Arkansas rushed 36 yards on 29 carries, a 1.2 yards per carry average.

That reversal in fortune and results, it says here, was the difference in last year’s loss and this year’s victory.

Credit Defensive Coordinator Pete Golding for righting the ship on his side of the ball after giving up nearly 700 yards and 49 points last week to LSU to holding the K.J. Jefferson/Rocket Sanders-led Razorbacks to just 288 yards of total offense.

In this day and age of tempo, wide open offenses and outstanding skill players able to play pitch and catch with ease – and against an SEC opponent who has given the Rebel fits for years – this was by far the best defensive effort of the season for the Rebels and certainly a winning effort.

The Rebel defense also had two turnovers – a pair of interceptions. The first was early when LB Ashanti Cistrunk jumped a route in the middle of the field and then rumbled 30 yards to the Arkansas 3 to set up the Rebs’ fir touchdown of the game.

The second came late in the contest, with Ole Miss clinging to a 27-20 lead and the Hogs in possession of the ball with plenty of time to score. Safety John Saunders, Jr., cut in front of another Jefferson aerial, advanced the ball a few yards and went down to the turf, cradling the ball and effectively ending the game.

Postgame, Cistrunk said Golding did not call a more aggressive game against Arkansas than he did against LSU, but I’d like to see the stats on that statement. The defensive line never took a passive approach – they attacked the line of scrimmage on every play and that style resulted in four quarterback sacks and most definitely factored in to the nine tackles for loss and 36 yards rushing.

Maybe Cistrunk was right – maybe the calls were the same, but if that is the case, the execution was miles better than previously.

A former Ole Miss coach I was talking to Friday, an older man who I respect when it comes to football knowledge and wisdom, told me the defense was “not that far off.” He said they were just about ready to put a good game together. He was right.

Staying on defense, once again, Safety Trey Washington and Cistrunk led the team in tackles with 10 and 9 respectively. DE Jared Ivey was next with 8 and 1 of the QB sacks. DE Isaac Ukwu was credited with a sack and Cistrunk, LB Suntarine Perkins, DT Akelo Stone and DT J.J. Pegues all had a half a sack each.

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart limped into the team meeting room postgame for an interview session and the first thing out of his mouth when asked about his injury was “I’ll be good.” Nothing more was asked or explained.

But when he was asked about this being the second week in a row the Rebel offense had to bring the team from behind in the fourth quarter, he told what Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin always preaches. “You have to be calm in the storm. If you can stay calm, you can do your job effectively. I think all of us were calm on the drives we needed to win the game.

Trailing 20-17, Ole Miss went on a 75-yard, 11-play drive that included converting on a 4th-and-1 with RB Quinshon Judkins rushing for 2 yards out the Wildcat formation and a 34-yard run by Judkins to put the ball on the Hog 27. Form there, RB Ulyssess Bentley had 3 carries for the final 16 yards, picking his way through traffic and finding the slightest openings to burst through.

The Ole Miss defense then quickly put up another stop, Arkansas was forced to punt and the watch as the rejuvenated offense drove all the wat to the Arky 2 before having to settle on a field goal for a 27-20 lead that would hold up the rest of the way thanks to the Saunders interception.

Dart was injured (right knee) early in the game and just didn’t seem to be himself, but he gutted out 64% completion percentage, threw for one score and had no turnovers.

As much as yours truly has fussed about the punting, Ole Miss Punter Fraser Masin got to laugh at the criticisms this week, punting 4 times for a 46.8 yard average with a long of 51 and putting 2 of his kicks inside the Arkansas 20.

The Rebels also reduced their penalties from 13 a week ago to 5 for 44 yards against the Pigs. Kiffin said it was a point of emphasis all week and obviously the extra mentoring on limiting penalties hit the mark. By the way, Arkansas was penalized 10 times for 70 yards.

Before anyone says “you daft idiot,” I am not suggesting to demote Judkins in favor of starting Bentley, but much like it was last year with Zach Evans, I look forward to “Doo” getting his opportunities. “He’s a stud,” Dart said after the game. “He just gives us a whole different look than Quinshon and I think that change catches defenses off guard.

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