Report Card: Ole Miss 30, Arkansas 17

OLE MISS 30, ARKANSAS 17
REPORT CARD
OFFENSE D-
HIGHLIGHTS Here and there good things happened for Arkansas. Knile Davis got his first career touchdown on a three-yard run in the second quarter. Carlton Salters got his first career touchdown catch (regardless of the fact it was tipped/dropped by another receiver and somehow wound up in Salters' hands, it goes down as a Salters' TD). Ryan Mallett was never intercepted, though that's about the best part of his day.

LOWLIGHTS Where to begin...? Arkansas receivers appeared to drop at least 10 passes. Jarius Wright had a crucial drop on what likely would have been a 60-plus yard touchdown. There were multiple delay of game penalties. Pass protection was poor - even when the Razorbacks were in max protect - and quarterback Ryan Mallett was sacked four times and was on the ground countless others. That explains why Mallett was 12 of 24 for 254 yards. Besides' Davis' TD run, the running game was brutally bad again, part of the reason the Razorbacks were 4 of 13 on third downs. Tight end D.J. Williams was held without a catch for a second consecutive week.

WHAT WE LARNED This offense is capable of very bad days. Put Mallett under pressure and stop the running game and things fall apart. D.J. Williams needs to be a bigger part of the gameplan.

DEFENSE D
HIGHLIGHTS Twice the Razorbacks intercepted Jevan Snead, even though at one point third-string cornerback David Gordon was on the field. Safeties Matt Harris and Elton Ford led the team in tackles with 10 and 9, respectively.

LOWLIGHTS Ole Miss got career efforts from quarterback Jevan Snead and running back/wide receiver Dexter McCluster. Snead had a career-high 332 passing yards, while McCluster finished with 123 yards rushing and 137 receiving. Arkansas safeties Matt Harris and Elton Ford led the team in tackles with 10 and 9, respectively. Missed tackles seemed more common than made tackles. Why does this item appear twice? It is good that Harris and Ford made tackles, but bad they made so many after the rest of the Razorbacks' defense had whiffed. Arkansas was physically whipped at the line of scrimmage.

WHAT WE LEARNED Physical teams upfront will have their way with the Razorbacks unless something changes soon. This bunch still doesn't tackle well.

SPECIAL TEAMS D
HIGHLIGHTS A week after missing two field goals in a three-point loss, Alex Tejada came back to hit a season-long 44-yarder. It was his first field goal of 40-plus yards since 2007. Dennis Johnson wasn't spectacular, but gave the Razorbacks 122 yards on 5 kick returns.