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The Razorbacks are ranked 124th in FBS in penalty yards per game. Ole Miss is 129th. A total of 130 teams play in college football’s highest division.
Arkansas has been penalized 13 times, four times, nine times, 10 times and 13 times, in order, in its five games. Ole Miss is heading the other direction with 14, 12, nine and seven.
The flags weren’t the things that saw both teams drop their first games of the season last week: Arkansas against No. 2 Georgia and Ole Miss against No. 1 Alabama. But continued poor execution spells danger in future games, including, potentially, this one.
“Well, we’ve just got to keep working on it,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “We had a lot of pass interference calls, we had a lot of jumping offsides on both sides of the line of scrimmage. I mean, we have officials at every practice. We’re going to have to emphasize it a little more, I guess.”
Arkansas cannot afford to give Ole Miss free yards, especially when the Razorbacks are playing defense. The Rebels have the third-ranked total offense in FBS, averaging 551 yards per game.
Three weeks ago, Ole Miss’ own players were musing about their need to clean up the flag. Offensive lineman Nick Broeker mentioned it specifically about his unit.
But since the 14 committed in a 17-point win against Louisville in the the season opener, the Rebels have managed to cut that in half, most recently registering seven against Alabama.
The two schools square off Saturday at 11 a.m. from Oxford.