First half recap with Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. -- First half recap of the Arkansas-Ole Miss football game as the Razorbacks trail at intermission, 17-7.

Arkansas got its first touchdown on a seven-play, 80-yard drive that featured the first two long completions by Mallett.  Frustrated by several drops, Mallett hit Reggie Fish for 32 yards to get the drive moving.  The big sophomore quarterback found Greg Childs for another 31 yarder, hitting his receiver in full-stride and putting the Razorbacks at the Ole Miss 3 yard line.  Knile Davis took it in for his first career touchdown to send the teams to halftime, 17-7.  In the drive, Mallett was 3-of-5 for 75 of Arkansas’ 80 yards.

The start of the game was all Ole Miss as the Rebels rolled off 17 straight points. Rebels took the opening kickoff 73 yards for a score to begin the contest.  The 10-play drive did not have a third down until the Rebels went twice up the middle on first and goal at the one.

After Arkansas ended the Rebels’ next possesion with a crushing sack of Snead by Jerico Nelson, the Rebels went to the ground attack.  McCluster almost broke for a touchdown on the first play, but Matt Harris’ open field tackle saved the score.  Ole Miss stayed on the ground the next six plays, mostly with McCluster, before Snead attempted his first pass of the drive, connecting 26 yards to Shay Hodge for a 14-0 lead.

Meanwhile the Razorbacks managed only two first quarter first downs as the Arkansas offense struggled on its first posessions.  Arkansas pushed the ball into Ole Miss territory at the 35 to start the second quarter, but was unable to convert on fourth down.

Hogs pushed into Rebel territory again, but Ole Miss held and returned to the end zone at the close of the second quarter.  On a Wild Rebel play, the toss back to Snead leads to a 39-yard pass to Marquis Summers at the Arkansas five.  The Razorback defense held Ole Miss and the Rebels settle for a 22-yard field goal by Joshua Shene.

For the first half, Arkansas had only 186 yards on 32 plays while the Rebels went for 298 yards on 42 plays.  McCluster ran 136 yards by half on 13 carries to insure his first career 100-yard game.