Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

In a game that turned on just a handful of second-half plays, and nearly turned back against the Arkansas Razorbacks at the end, UA freshman defensive end Trey Flowers made one of the biggest in Oxford, Miss., last Saturday.

Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt was suddenly in a position to pull off an Oxford version of the "Miracle on Markham" after his team had recovered an onside kick with 1:21 to play at its 43-yard line and Arkansas leading 29-24. Yes, it had taken the Rebels 16 plays to finally close a 12-point deficit to 5 with barely a minute left, but stranger things have happened in college football. A last-second stunning loss for the Hogs — the way they had played so poorly in the first half only to turn it on for a little more than a quater in the second to gain command — wasn't out of the question at this moment.

But, in one of the few times Arkansas' defense got a hand on tiny, quick Ole Miss quarterback Randall Mackey, the 6-foot-5 Flowers came in from the left side and dropped Mackey for an 11-yard loss on first down.

This did two things: Besides putting the Rebels 21 yards behind the first-down stick, it put them in a rush to make something big on the next snap, all the while letting the game clock wind down as the Ole Miss sideline brain trust tried to get a new play in. Arkansas was able to play with two deep safeties and drop the corners and linebackers as well.

The next play finished off the Rebels as Arkansas sophomore safety Eric Bennett stepped in front of Mackey's heave to the Hogs' 40-yard line and returned it down the Ole Miss sideline before being run out of bounds deep in the Rebels' end with 32 seconds to play.

Flowers and the rest of the Arkansas defensive contingent had their share of mistakes in the first half as the Rebels piled up 250 yards on a well-balanced mix of power running, counter plays, the speed sweep runs and Mackey's play-action passes in the flats.

But all that changed in the third quarter as the ends played their position better, stopping the outside runs and taking away the Rebels' early success on first downs. Placed in second- and third-and-long situations, Ole Miss' offense struggled. Flowers was a big part of that, Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said afterward.

"He really stood out," Robinson said. "The thing about Trey is, he does what he's taught and he does what he's coached to do. And he knows right away if he messed up, he knows right then and there it was his bad. When he came back out in the second half, he did some really, really impressive things, especially on some tackles for loss and getting after that quarterback."

Arkansas landed the Huntsville, Ala., product in the last days of the 2011 recruiting period, pulling him away from an earlier commitment from Georgia Tech.

"He's really come along with all of them," Robinson said.

Arkansas' defensive struggles in the month of October, beginning with the Texas A&M game, are partly due to the inexperience the Hogs have had to play at defensive end. Senior Jake Bequette missed the A&M game, as well as the Alabama game, with a hamstring injury that may still be slowing him. Junior end Tenarius Wright was lost early in the Alabama game to a broken arm.

Bequette and Wright were preseason All-Southeastern Conference selections. None of Arkansas' All-SEC defensive picks or veteran returnees have played up to expectations this year, and that's reflective of the stats which show the Hogs ranked No. 10 in the league in rushing defense.