FAYETTEVILLE — The return of Houston Nutt to Arkansas, Part I, went to the native son’s new team Saturday, but not before a freaky finish to what had been a humdrum game.

Nutt’s Ole Miss Rebels seized control of the tempo with a bruising running attack to build a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter, then hung on through a wild ride at the end for a 23-21 victory over Arkansas.

“That’s certainly what you call a tough loss,” Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said after his team’s 14-point rally in the final five minutes.

The overflow crowd of 74, 168 at Reynolds Razorback Stadium booed Nutt with gusto on several occasions, but the unspectacular play through three quarters and early in the fourth, when Ole Miss built a 20-7 lead, had taken some of the rowdy edge off the Arkansas fans.

ADVERTISEMENT

That subdued vibe vanished in the final eight minutes as Arkansas rallied with two touchdowns and recovered an onside kick with 1: 07 left to have a chance at completing the comeback.

“That was a lot of effort on both sides of the ball, and man, what a great game to watch,” said Nutt, whose 10-year tenure at Arkansas ended last November. “I’d like it to be a little better. I wanted to relax the last minute.”

Instead, Nutt had to sweat out the final minutes as the Razorbacks rallied.

Casey Dick threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Lucas Miller and 22 yards to Greg Childs around a 28-yard field goal by Ole Miss’ Joshua Shene, with all that scoring coming in a stretch of 3: 21. Child’s scoring catch, a play on which he outjumped cornerback Marshay Green on a fade route, pulled the Hogs within 23-21 at the 1: 07 mark.

Alex Tejada executed an onside kick with a big hop, and Arkansas ’ Aaron Fenton dived on the ball just on the Mississippi sideline at the Hogs ’ 47-yard line. Officials initially ruled the recovery out of bounds, but the replay booth reversed the call, sending the Razorbacks’ fans into a frenzy. Arkansas thought it had completed a 32-yard pass from Dick to London Crawford to the Ole Miss 21 with 51 seconds left, but the officials called an offensive pass interference penalty on Crawford. “He went up and caught the ball in his hands and they called offensive pass interference,” Petrino said. “I think everyone who saw the replay saw he did a great job of elevating and catching the ball.” Arkansas could not overcome facing second-and-25 at its 32.

The loss by Arkansas (3-5, 1-4 SEC ) put its postseason hopes in further peril and took the sheen off outstanding performances by Michael Smith and D. J. Williams.

Smith shrugged off a concussion from last week to rush for 129 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and had 160 all-purpose yards. Williams caught a career-high 10 passes for 129 yards, including a 29-yarder to set up Arkansas’ final touchdown.

“It hurt last week, and it hurt even more this week,” Smith, the SEC’s leading rusher, said of the loss.

Ole Miss held an advantage of 7: 40 in time of possession, hammering the point home by controlling much of the action with big back Cordera Eason and slashing runner Dexter McCluster. An 81-yard Rebels drive, capped by Jevan Snead’s 11-yard touchdown pass to an uncovered Mike Wallace, made it 20-7 with 13: 21 left in the game.

When Arkansas got its passing offense into gear on Dick’s 39-yard throw to Childs from the Razorbacks’ 3 with just less than eight minutes left, comparisons to the previous week’s game at Kentucky were inevitable.

The Razorbacks led 20-7 in that game before a late collapse led to a 21-20 victory for the Wildcats. But after Arkansas pulled within 20-14 on Dick’s 8-yard touchdown throw to Lucas Miller, the comparisons to the Kentucky game ended because Snead completed a sprint-out pass to Wallace for 42 yards to the Arkansas 27. Shene’s third field goal, a 28-yarder, made it 23-14 with 2: 43 left and set up the furious finish.

“We didn’t do everything right in the game, but we stuck together and kept playing hard,” Petrino said.

The Razorbacks had one of their worst games for injuries. Defensive end Adrian Davis, offensive linemen Grant Cook and Ray Dominguez and safety Matt Harris were all knocked out of the game. Davis’ injury appeared to be at least moderately severe to his knee.

Field-goal kicking was the difference in the first half, which ended with Ole Miss leading 13-7.

Shay Haddock missed a 34-yard try at the end of Arkansas’ first possession of the game. The Rebels, up 10-7 and trying to stop Arkansas’ two-minute drive at the end of the half, did that and more. Dick’s overthrew a dump-off to Smith and the ball bounced off Smith’s hands and into the arms of Ole Miss ’ Fon Ingram. The cornerback raced 38 yards with the interception until Dick tackled him at the Arkansas 17 with two seconds left. Shene’s 34-yard field goal on the final play of the half gave Ole Miss the six-point lead.

Arkansas had a 7-3 lead until late in the second quarter, and it could have been a wider gap.

Dick, who completed 20 of 38 passes for 282 yards and 2 touchdowns, was called for intentional grounding and a 13-yard loss on Arkansas’ first drive.

Ole Miss opened the scoring with a 58-yard, nine-play drive to grab the lead on Shene’s 39-yard field goal.

The lead held up until early in the second quarter when Arkansas scored on a 70-yard drive. The possession included a personal foul penalty on Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Trahan and a 23-yard catch-and-run by Joe Adams on a third-and-13.

The Razorbacks faced fourth-and-1 on the Ole Miss 13, and Petrino elected to go for it.

Dick started the play left and pitched quickly to Smith, who raced around the end and went untouched into the end zone as the Razorbacks took a 7-3 lead.

Dick passed for 142 yards and both of his touchdowns during the fourthquarter rally.

“This is another tough loss, but all we can do is move forward and find ways to get better,” Dick said. “I think we’re doing a good job of that.”