Did Arkansas Ruin What Ole Miss Paid For?

This week, it came out exactly what the NCAA is alleging against Ole Miss but for all they paid, it was Arkansas that stopped them from getting what they paid for.

Is it possible that the Arkansas Razorbacks are the swift arm of justice in the Ole Miss story? Wait, before you click off the page, hear me out on what exactly I mean.

Let’s start at the beginning and talk about Ole Miss and what they are being accused of. It came out this week that the NCAA is alleging 21 infractions against the Rebels football program. The 21 infractions are broken into different levels by the NCAA. No school wants the NCAA coming at them with any level, but they certainly don’t want a level 1 allegation. Ole Miss has 15.

So what are some of the things included in these allegations and why does anyone from Arkansas care? Well for starters, the NCAA is saying boosters paid recruits to go to Ole Miss. Apparently, one of those recruits took their money and then chose another school. Tough luck.

Aside from paying players, the NCAA is saying the Ole Miss assistants also helped to fake ACT scores to get players accepted. It’s no surprise that the NCAA is also throwing a “lack of institutional control” at the program for all these shenanigans. That is the one you REALLY don’t want if you’re Ole Miss.

Arkansas Razorbacks Basketball

So Ole Miss is in trouble. Big trouble. The allegations say the Rebels basically cheated all the way through the recruiting season of 2016. That means that Ole Miss had been cheating for the past three seasons at least. In case you don’t remember what happened these past three years, allow me to remind you.

Arkansas Gets Over The Hump

All throughout the 2014 season, all you heard was Arkansas couldn’t get over the hump in the SEC. That is until they beat 17th ranked LSU 17 to 0 and then turned around the next week and beat 8th ranked Ole Miss even worse with 30 to 0 as the final score. Arkansas got over the hump.

This season was when Ole Miss started getting a little too big for their britches and beat Alabama. Arkansas didn’t foil any plans this year due to the Rebels losing to LSU and Auburn already in the season, however, it was the start of things to come.

The Big One

2014, Arkansas may have been the cherry on top of the icing for the Rebels season but 2015 is a bit different. Yet again, Ole Miss came up and beat Alabama. After beating Bama, the Rebels then lost to Florida and Memphis but as far as the SEC West was concerned, they were still in first place.

Heading into week 10 of the 2015 season, Ole Miss sat on top of the Iron Throne of the SEC West. All they had to do was take care of business and the West was theirs. This week, the Arkansas Razorbacks were coming to town and the Rebels owed them some payback for last season.

Arkansas and Ole Miss played one of the most exciting games of our times that night on November 7, 2015. The Hogs and Rebs took it to overtime, the Rebels scored and now had Arkansas pinned down to a 4th and 25. Ole Miss was one play away from taking that next step to winning the coveted SEC West.

That was until Hunter Henry made the most historic lateral in Razorback history. Henry lateraled back as he was being tackled, then Dan Skipper tipped the ball away from Rebel defenders and into the reach of Alex Collins. Collins then picked it up and converted that 4th and 25 to a 1st and goal. Arkansas was still in the fight.

The Razorbacks ended up scoring and then everyone knew what had to be done. Arkansas lined up to go for two, and as Brandon Allen was sacked and Ole Miss was yet again celebrating, a flag for a facemask was thrown and the Hogs get a do-over. This time, Allen ran it in and won the game for the Razorbacks, 53-52. It was amazing.

Arkansas Saves The Day

In light of all the allegations by the NCAA directed at Ole Miss, it was clear that the Rebels had been cheating the whole time. In that span, they beat Alabama twice and once they almost won the SEC West.

Rather than the cheating Rebels (allegedly of course) winning the West, however, the Arkansas Razorbacks stepped up and unknowingly, at least to the fans, stopped a program from cheating their way to a SEC West title. The “Hunter Heave” as it has been called is now, is more important than ever. In that one play, the good guys won and the bad guys lost. Woo pig.