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Sam Pittman addresses concerns of Ole Miss tipping Arkansas plays after 2024 controversy

IMG_0985by: Griffin McVeigh11 hours agogriffin_mcveigh
NCAA Football: Mississippi at Arkansas
Nov 2, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman shakes hands with Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin after the game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Mississippi won 63-31. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Ole Miss dominated Arkansas enough last season to the point where Sam Pittman began to ask questions. He wondered if Arkasnas was tipping plays to Lane Kiffin immediately after the game. After all, Ole Miss put up 63 points and 562 total yards.

A season later, Pittman admits it’s something the Razorbacks looked at during the offseason. Pittman also heavily implied he does not believe there was any cheating involved. Just something Kiffin and the Ole Miss picked up on in the game, giving them a massive advantage. He now hopes Arkansas has it cleaned up heading into Saturday.

“All offseason with that,” Pittman said. “We certainly had a conversation again last night about that. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong — if someone is telling me what they’re doing, offensively, every play and I know it, I’m probably going to use it. I don’t look at that as anything and I’m not saying they did or anything like that. I’m just saying that we’re the only ones that should know what we’re running, unless they have some tendency on us… whether if we’re playing Ole Miss or whoever.”

Defensive coordinator Travis Williams put together a nice unit in 2024. Ole Miss scored the most points on Arkansas, by far. Only two other teams even reached the 30-point mark, let alone doubling that number. Opponents averaged 25 points per game against Williams, good enough for No. 66 in the country.

The number would be even better if the Ole Miss fiasco had never happened, though. Jaxson Dart threw for 515 yards while completing 25 of 31 passes, adding six touchdowns. Ole Miss even gained 132 rushing yards and a touchdown on 42 attempts. Seemingly everything they called went well, a strange occurrence.

Even if Kiffin can figure out Arkansas’ defensive play calls on Saturday, matching those types of numbers will be difficult. Quarterback Austin Simmons left the Kentucky game due to an ankle injury, giving the Rebels something to monitor. A good chunk of offensive skill talent left the program too, working on replacing those top-end guys.

Pittman made sure Arkansas is squared away, though. An offseason project he likely did not enjoy, the best wya to respond would be getting a victory over Ole Miss. The Rebels currently hold a two-game winning streak in the series. But with the game in Oxford, the Razorbacks have not won inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium since 2019.