FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Lane Kiffin’s approach with his Ole Miss football team is to keep his team's eyes on the prize.
According to the Rebels’ coach, some outside the program were suggesting Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) didn’t beat a down Oklahoma team badly enough last week. With a middling Arkansas bunch up next on Saturday, Kiffin told his players to appreciate two-score, in-conference wins and simply get ready for the next one.
“It’s kind of the world we live in around here now,” Kiffin said. “People have these expectations that you got to win by so many points and I think that probably happens at a lot of places with playoffs and all the fan excitement about that. Not just do you win, but how much do you win by.'”
The fear is that the Rebels don’t look too far ahead with No. 2 Georgia coming up after the trip to Arkansas.
No. 19 Ole Miss just needs to win, regardless of final margin, against the Razorbacks (5-3, 3-2) to make that game against Georgia one of national importance for both schools. But the win must come first.
The Rebels have plenty of firepower to make it happen. Ole Miss is second in FBS in total offense, averaging 538 yards per game, and first in FBS in scoring defense, giving up only 11 points per game. A big reason for rankings so high is because Kiffin’s bunch won their first four games of the season by a combined score of 220-21, beating up on Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern.
Games in the Southeastern Conference have been decidedly more mixed. Arkansas is ahead in the standings, in part by virtue of having played one more league game than the Rebels. Ole Miss has alternated wins and losses over its four SEC games.
Arkansas is riding high after scoring 58 points against Mississippi State last week in a 33-point win. Quarterback Taylen Green threw for 314 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another 79 yards and a score. He’s the first dual-threat signal-caller the Rebels will have faced in the SEC.
“We’ve got to do a great job of containing him,” Kiffin said. “This guy is as talented and long as they come. We’re going to have to do whatever he tries to do.”
Arkansas has had moderate success doing the same against Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, who is positioning himself for potential All-American honors. In two previous games against Arkansas, Dart has thrown for an average of less than 200 yards per and has just two touchdown passes and an interception.
Last week, against Oklahoma, Dart was without Tre Harris (leg injury), a player Kiffin called “probably the best receiver in the country.” Pittman anticipated Harris’ return for Saturday and knows his 55th-ranked defense will be tested.
“Obviously well coached with coach Kiffin,” Pittman said. “Seemed like this year, a little bit different. … Just a really, really good football team that’s very explosive.”
Dart enters the game fourth in FBS in yards per game, having yet to throw for fewer than 261 yards in a single game this season. Arkansas is ranked 88th against the pass and has given up totals higher than that three times — though the Razorbacks won two of those games and lost the other in overtime.
Arkansas leads the all-time series 38-30-1. Two of Ole Miss’ victories in the series have been vacated after the NCAA found several violations under coach former coach Hugh Freeze.
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