It would be impossible to determine who wanted it more, the Razorbacks players or a stadium full of fans who needed and deserved a victory.
On Saturday night, the Arkansas Razorbacks led Ole Miss for about 25 minutes of the first half, and with 5:21 to play in the second quarter, had increased their lead to 20-13 after one of their patented long, clock-eating drives.
The Hogs ran the ball nine times for 59 yards on the 13-play, 73-yard drive and got to the Ole Miss 18, where Adam McFain kicked a 36-yard field goal.
The Razorbacks defense bent but didn't break on the next possession, and Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly threw incomplete on fourth and 7 at the Hogs' 44.
The Hogs got 9 yards on three carries and Toby Baker's 38-yard punt backed Ole Miss up to its 10 with 2:12 to go in the half. Things were looking good for a crowd that really wanted a halftime lead.
But Kelly ran for 6 yards, then completed passes of 19, 35 and 22 yards and ran the final 8 for a touchdown that tied it 20-20 at half.
No one, absolutely no one, left the stadium at halftime -- except for the players and coaches who went to the locker room to regroup and make adjustments.
Sometime in the third quarter, the Razorbacks Nation stood and was heard, and they didn't know then that on Friday, Bret Bielema brought the Hogs to the stadium and urged his team to protect its own turf and more than 70,000 fans.
That must have resonated with the team at the half.
The Hogs gave up 110 yards but no points in the third quarter, and they drove 38 yards after a short punt to score on a 2-yard pass to Rawleigh Williams to take a 27-20 lead.
The crowd was really into the game, especially the officiating.
The first six minutes of the fourth quarter didn't go well for the Razorbacks as the Rebels kicked a field goal and scored on Kelly's 17-yard touchdown run.
Ole Miss led 30-27 with 9:00 to play, its first lead, but Arkansas fans were not deterred.
Arkansas punted on its next possession, and after getting the ball back with 6:59 to play, the fans reached a little deeper.
The noise level surpassed that of the Alabama game a week before, when the Hogs fans created the best atmosphere in several years at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
Even though the Hogs had not done much in the second half, and Austin Allen was sacked for an 8-yard loss on first down, neither the fans nor the team were discouraged.
A 14-yard pass to Austin Cantrell got a big chunk of the yardage back, but the Hogs faced fourth and 4 at midfield and no one was sitting. The roar echoed across the Boston Mountains.
Allen hit Keon Hatcher for 10 yards and a first down, and it got even louder.
It stayed that way when Allen found Hatcher for 11 yards and a first down on third and 9.
The Hogs, who ran 54 times in the game but had thrown on five of the previous six downs, had the Rebels expecting another pass.
Instead, Rawleigh Williams made them pay with a 22-yard run to the Ole Miss 6.
The crowd was still roaring when Williams was stopped for no gain on first down, and then Jared Cornelius, who has become a threat as receiver and runner, got 6 yards and the go-ahead touchdown around left end.
The fans became fanatical.
Kelly, a dual threat, is dangerous on third and 3, but not when he's on his back. That's where Jeremiah Ledbetter put him with a sack for an 8-yard loss. A false-start penalty moved Ole Miss back another 5 yards to its 20.
The Rebels faced fourth and 16, and Kelly went back to pass. He was forced to scramble, found an opening and was approaching the first-down marker when he ran into Santos Ramirez, who used his helmet to dislodge the ball from the quarterback.
The fumble squirted out of bounds 7 yards short of a first down.
Game over.
The crowd and the team found a way to win, and they savored a glorious night together.
Sports on 10/18/2016