Sports - Colleges - Ole Miss

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

McCluster ignites

Multi-purpose back has more than 100 yards rushing, receiving in victory

By PARRISH ALFORD

Special to the Sun Herald

OXFORD — Cancel that missing persons bulletin on Dexter McCluster. He has been found.

The Ole Miss Rebels’ multi-purpose back was multi-useful with more than 100 yards both rushing and receiving. Quarterback Jevan Snead showed up big too, and the Rebels delivered Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt an emotional win Saturday, 30-17, against Arkansas, the school he led for 10 seasons.

“It’s a big win for coach Nutt and the staff that was at Arkansas. They went through a lot, and we wanted to win it for them. It’s a big win for our team. It shows that we’re still fighting, and we’re still here,” McCluster said.

A Vaught-Hemingway Stadium crowd of 60,622, the stadium’s 10th-largest, saw McCluster and Snead click early, leading the Rebels (5-2, 2-2 SEC) to 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Ole Miss amassed 553 total yards but also left points on the table, settling for field goals twice when they had penetrated the 5-yard line and turning the ball over three times, compared to no turnovers for the Razorbacks (3-4, 1-4 SEC).

There will be more Arkansas connections next week when Ole Miss goes back on the road at Auburn to face the Tigers’ under new head coach Gene Chizik and his offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn — whom Nutt hired with the Razorbacks.

Saturday, the Rebels were unable to finish the Hogs early, but Arkansas was unable to take advantage. Ole Miss kept pressure on strong-armed quarterback Ryan Mallett, the SEC’s total offense leader, sacking him four times and pressuring him many others.

Mallett did not throw an interception but completed just 12-of-34 attempts for 254 yards and one touchdown, which was the result of a tipped ball when two Ole Miss defensive backs were covering his intended receiver, Greg Childs. Carlton Salters grabbed the ball inside the 10 and scored easily.

That made it a 24-17 game with 5 minutes, 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix turned up the heat early in the second half after watching Mallett lead the Hogs 80 yards in less than 2 minutes late in the first half. A 3-yard run by Knile Davis cut the Ole Miss lead to 17-7 at halftime.

“We learned from that that if we didn’t get more pressure it would be a long day for us. We couldn’t let him set his feet, or he would pick us a part,” Nix said Snead, meanwhile, did set his feet.