Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Ole Miss Rebels
Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 2:30 pm
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi
TV: CBS
Grab your sweaters and solo cups, kids, it’s that time of year again— the Arkansas game!
Ole Miss usually catches Arkansas right in the heart of their schedule, which means a few things: it means that both teams know roughly how good they are, and both have things left to play for. It means that you’re tired of seeing the same Sonic ads on TV every single week, but you still might drunkenly swing by for a hot dog later. It means that you don’t really remember your life before you slipped into a mid-autumn college football daze, and you don’t have to come out of it anytime soon. It’s classic SEC heaven.
Lately, Arkansas has made a point of reminding everybody exactly what classic American football is all about. Bret Bielema’s bunch practices an old-school brand of football, one that died off with the advent of the spread and 60-point offenses. Generally speaking, they are nasty, brutish, and no-frills, and last year, they were entirely too much for Ole Miss to handle. “Revenge” will be a popular buzzword about this rematch, when the Rebs look to keep their SEC title hopes alive (pending a win at Auburn), and Arkansas fights to at least make a bowl.
This year’s Razorback team reminds me of Ole Miss in that it has had mixed results. Competitive games (more losses than wins) against the SEC’s best, interrupted by inexplicable losses to inferior programs in Texas Tech and Toledo. They’ve also caught the injury bug from the Rebs, it seems, as two of their four running backs are now out for the year with injuries, and another is playing with a cast on his arm. A preseason dark horse (dark hog?) to win the SEC, Arkansas has stumbled but kept its chin up, which means it’s a hungry team that isn’t going to lay down and quit—as evidenced by their 4-OT victory over a similarly-hungry Auburn team.
Storylines! Rushing yards! November football! Awesome!!!
And, what’s more, this will be the Rebs’ first CBS game on the year. If you’re not able to make it in person, Gary and Verne (bless their ancient hearts) will fill us all with factoids and inane commentary. You’ll be interrupted three times per drive by Golden Flake and car dealerships and promos for subpar crime dramas. It’ll be a four-hour blitzkrieg of unadulterated football propaganda, and it will be glorious.
My guess would be that Ole Miss will find more success at home than they did in horrible conditions in Fayetteville last year—which is to say, they will find some (any) success. The key, as always vs. Arkansas, will be the play of both lines. Can the Rebs plug the gaps and get off the field on third downs? Can they establish balance within their offense and unleash their stockpile of playmakers?
Assuming Arkansas takes care of business against UT-Martin (who are probably still licking their wounds after a 76-3 loss at the hands of the Rebels), they will be sitting at 4-4 and anticipating some tough-but-winnable games (LSU, MSU, and Missouri) to close out the season on a high note. This was about the time last year that the Razorbacks hit their stride, shutting out really good LSU and Ole Miss teams en route to a resounding Texas Bowl victory. We’ll see if this year will be a different story for them.
Back home in Oxford, however, The Grove will be packed, Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be loud, and the Rebels should be ready to warm up to November, with visions of Sugar Bowls dancing in their heads.
It’ll be a good time to be at Ole Miss. 
