Sam Pittman calls out officiating on Ole Miss' final touchdown: 'If that wasn't a pick, I don't know what is'

The Arkansas Razorbacks and Ole Miss Rebels played a thriller on Saturday night. In the end, it would be Ole Miss’ offense that was too much for Arkansas to overcome, but that wasn’t without the help of what Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman believes to be a pick play on the final touchdown that they scored.

At the time, Ole Miss led 31-28 with about five minutes left in the third quarter. The Rebels were driving on the Razorbacks’ five-yard line. There, Ole Miss ran a play where Cayden Lee seemed to sit down in his route and use his shoulder to bump Kani Walker of Arkansas. Walker was covering De’Zhaun Stribling on the play, and the bump gave just enough room for him to catch and score.

For Sam Pittman, it was a pick play. The implication then being that it should have been offensive pass interference. That would have taken the touchdown off the board, pushed Ole Miss back to around the 20-yard line, and made it 3rd and goal from distance. The likely outcome would then have been that Ole Miss settles for a field goal. Instead, it became a 10-point game and Pittman was left without an explanation.

“They haven’t [explained] yet,” Sam Pittman said. “We don’t get them until — it’s several plays, to be honest with you. But if that wasn’t a pick, I don’t know what is.”

Sam Pittman was working to avoid being overly critical of the officials during his press conference. He noted the potential to earn a fine for complaining about officiating. At the same time, he did emphasize that what Ole Miss ran was a pick play.

“I don’t think that’ll cost me money,” Pittman said. “I’m not saying it was the wrong call either, but I am saying it was a pick.”

Of course, a pick play is a pick play from the defense’s perspective. From the offense’s perspective, it’s a rub route. That would be a smartly designed play to break man coverage where routes cross and force defensive backs to take new angles or run into one another, and is not pass interference. In this case, that’s how the officials saw it.

Ole Miss would hold on to win 41-35. That means the touchdown amounted to the difference in scoring by the end of the game. It’s a frustrating no-call for Pittman, but he knows the Razorbacks need to bounce back quickly. Next week, Arkansas has a tough Group of Five opponent to contend with, the Memphis Tigers.