Last year, Felix Jones took the opening kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown to start Arkansas’ 38-3 victory over Ole Miss in Fayetteville.

Recalling that, and Auburn never kicking off deep to Jones and Darren McFadden while edging the Razorbacks 9-7 last Saturday, Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron seems apt to order nothing but squibbers and sky kicks whenever his Rebels kick off in Saturday’s 1 p. m. SEC West game in Oxford, Miss.

“ I’m not sure they are going to get any kicks from us directly, ” Orgeron said.

Arkansas coach Houston Nutt is sure they won’t. “ I would expect the same thing from here on, ” Nutt said. Might he move Jones or McFadden closer to the kicker so they might better return a squibber ? “ We’ll play around with that, ” Nutt replied. “ But what’s tough is they’ll just kick it away from wherever those guys are located. ”

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Alabama’s Ghost Ed Orgeron and Houston Nutt have cause to feel haunted by Alabama. Seems in Arkansas’ 41-38 loss Sept. 15 at Alabama, the ghost of Bear Bryant himself may have yanked the flag from the official’s pocket to call an eyebrow-raising pass interference penalty on Alabama’s game-winning drive.

Also, on that same drive with Alabama out of timeouts and time running short, officials called time — for about the duration it took to negotiate the end of the Vietnam war — to measure for a possible Alabama first down that proved a yard short.

Now it’s Orgeron, a former Arkansas graduate assistant, who is feeling the pain inflicted upon his Rebels by the Crimson Tide. The Rebels have lost to Alabama on the game’s last play three straight years.

With the Rebels down 27-24 last Saturday in Oxford, Ole Miss quarterback Seth Adams completed a 41-yard pass to Shay Hodge to the Alabama 4-yard line with seven seconds left.

Alabama requested a review. It was determined Hodge stepped out of bounds before the catch, thus nullifying the reception.

So Alabama took a knee and the game, 27-24.

Orgeron was besieged with questions about the officiating in his Monday press conference, just like Nutt was after Arkansas ’ defeat to Alabama.

“ After reviewing film, we feel it was an unfair call, that it should not have been overturned, ” Orgeron said. “ We should have been allowed to play those last seven seconds and let the best team win. A game should not end on a judgmental call from the box. ”

Orgeron said he thought Hodge had been nudged out of bounds by an Alabama player and that the Crimson Tide touched the pass first.

“ We don’t feel there is anything on the film that shows it should have been turned around, ” Orgeron said. “ The ruling on the field was it was a catch. ”

Though knowing the outcome can’t change, Orgeron pleaded his case Sunday to the SEC Office just like Nutt pleaded his case to the league office the Sunday after Arkansas’ Alabama game.

Now comes the toughest part — ignoring the past and refocusing the team on the game at hand.

“ We talked about that Sunday very, very long and hard, ” Nutt said. “ It’s about the next game. We have to get over it, and I’m sure Ole Miss is trying to do the same thing. ”

It’s not a cut-and-dried process.

“ Really, you won’t know until you get on that field, but you are hoping through preparation and the attitude of your whole team that you can put it behind you and go, ” Nutt said.

That’s Orgeron’s objective.

“ I am the leader, ” Orgeron said. “ So I have to deal with it. We have to let go of our feelings and move on to Arkansas. ”

Both coaches were asked about a Monday comment from Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom that socalled “ lower echelon” teams traditionally get the short end of the SEC officiating stick versus traditional SEC powers.

“ I don’t think Ole Miss is lower-echelon team, ” Orgeron said. “ Never felt that, never will. Since we’ve been here, I think we’ve had some very unfair calls against our team. What it’s all about, I don’t know. I’ll never understand it. ”

Asked a paraphrased question about Croom’s comments Monday, Nutt replied, chuckling, “ That’s a good question. I would hope that all the officials try to call an honest game and do it the right way regardless of the color of jersey, regardless of the school and do it right. I think most of our crews do.

“ There have been some times where you wish that call had been a little bit different or you didn’t get this certain call at this particular time, but I don’t know. I would rather not get into that. ”