Arkansas 28, Mississippi 17

Posted 6:41PM on Saturday 12th November 2005 ( 19 years ago )

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) Arkansas wouldn't let Mississippi run. When it counted, the Rebels couldn't stop Casey Dick from passing. Dick, a freshman making his second career start, led the Razorbacks back from a 10-point deficit by throwing two of his three second-half touchdown passes to Marcus Monk in Arkansas' 28-17 victory over Ole Miss. Dick was 17 of 24 for 175 yards, and the Razorbacks (3-6, 1-5 SEC) held Ole Miss to 10 yards rushing in snapping a four-game losing streak. ``We've had some hard times, but we've got great heart,'' Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. ``Our defense hung on for us, and we finally got it going offensively.'' Arkansas, the nation's No. 5 rushing team, was held to just 89 yards rushing and trailed 17-7 midway through the third quarter before the offense found a groove and took advantage of a mental mistake by the Rebels. Ole Miss was flagged for a late hit on a second-down sack, giving Arkansas a first down at the Rebels' 34. Three plays later, Dick had a 23-yard touchdown pass to Monk. ``That changed the momentum of the game,'' Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron said. He then gave the Razorbacks the lead for good when his 4-yard TD pass to Peyton Hillis made it 21-17 with about 12 minutes remaining. ``We thought we'd be able to put together some drives if we just held on to it and didn't do anything to hurt ourselves,'' Dick said. Dick sealed the victory by capping Arkansas' next possession with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Monk with 5:06 to play. ``Casey had some unbelievable throws to win this game,'' Nutt said. ``The best thing is, a win like this will help him grow up big time.'' Ethan Flatt was 20-of-37 passing for 309 yards in his first start of the season for Ole Miss (3-6, 1-5), which saw its faint bowl hopes dashed by Arkansas for the second straight year. Flatt started the final nine games of last season but failed to impress Orgeron until he was inserted two weeks ago in a loss at Auburn. ``I thought (Flatt) looked OK at times, but we just didn't get the spark we needed,'' Orgeron said. An anticipated battle of star freshman running backs never developed. Arkansas' Darren McFadden, who entered as the SEC's leading rusher, carried 13 times for 22 yards nearly 87 below his average. Fellow freshman Felix Jones led the Razorbacks with 50 yards rushing on 13 carries. Ole Miss' Mico McSwain, the most productive freshman rusher in school history, sprained his right ankle on a 2-yard gain during the Rebels' second series, he said. He spent the second half on crutches on the sideline, and finished with minus-1 yard. His replacement, Larry Kendrick, ran 1 yard for a touchdown and caught an 8-yard scoring pass for the Rebels, who led 14-7 at halftime. Kendrick led Ole Miss with 48 yards rushing. ``Any time you have 10 yards rushing, I don't think you have anybody play well,'' Orgeron said. Flatt, a slow-running pocket passer, was sacked four times and was intercepted twice. Randy Kelly returned Flatt's first intercepted pass 42 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the first quarter. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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