Arkansas beats Mississippi, 29-24

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino came to the postgame news conference sporting a rare grin. His Razorbacks had just taken a huge haymaker from underdog Mississippi but survived to laugh about it. “I’m on about the 10th deep breath I’ve taken,” Petrino said.

The No. 10 Razorbacks fought back from an early 17-point deficit to beat Mississippi 29-24 on Saturday afternoon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, needing Eric Bennett’s late interception to stop the final Ole Miss drive and seal the victory. Tyler Wilson threw for 232 yards and rushed for two short touchdowns as Arkansas (6-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) continues its best start in four years under Petrino, staying in the mix in the loaded Western Division that includes LSU and Alabama. Dennis Johnson rushed for 160 yards on 15 carries, including a 52-yard touchdown. Joe Adams caught four passes for 124 yards.

Ole Miss (2-5, 0-4) took a surprising 17-0 lead with 6:20 remaining in the second quarter after Randall Mackey’s 3-yard touchdown run, but the Razorbacks responded with 29 unanswered points. The Rebels have now set a program record for SEC futility, losing 10 straight league games dating back to last season. Ole Miss has been in the SEC since 1933. The 11:21 a.m. kickoff had the Razorbacks looking a little groggy, but the afternoon brought much better things.

“Certainly we didn’t want to start that way, but we kept competing,” Petrino said. “We found a way to win and I’m happy with how we responded.”

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt fell to 2-2 against the program he coached for 10 seasons before coming to Oxford. Nutt said he was proud of how his players fought, but the Razorbacks’ 19-0 edge in the third quarter proved too much to overcome. “I’d like to have that third quarter back,” Nutt said. “There were two series on offense and two series on defense where we just didn’t do anything.”

The Razorbacks’ league-leading passing offense was never at its best, but Wilson was effective when it mattered. He completed 13 of 28 passes and didn’t throw an interception. Arkansas had 310 total yards in the second half.