Ole Miss subdues ASU, but not without a tussle
TODD TRAUBARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
JONESBORO -- The expected loss came, but not without a fight.
Arkansas State stayed with Ole Miss for more than three quarters in front of the third-largest crowd in Indian Stadium history, but the Rebels and redshirt sophomore quarterback Eli Manning became too much to handle in a 35-17 victory on Saturday night.
With a crowd of 22,368 watching ASU play host to its first SEC team, the Indians put together scoring drives, came up with defensive stops and turnovers and, with 7:55 left, closed within 28-17 on a 1-yard run by Jonathan Adams, who had a long-awaited breakout night.
But when Ole Miss (3-1) needed him, Manning came through with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Chris Collins to cap the scoring with 5:16 left. The touchdown combined with the dwindling time on the clock was enough to finally put away a stubborn ASU team that was a 22-point underdog.
"We didn't win, that's the main objective to win," ASU Coach Joe Hollis said. "But from my viewpoint as the head coach you want great effort and we got great effort. We extended ourselves. I think that was very evident."
ASU (0-4) looked reborn behind Adams, after losing its homecoming game to NCAA Division I-AA member Jacksonville State two weeks ago. Adams, a senior from Osceola, rushed a career high 30 times for 173 yards.
"The whole philosophy was we felt like we could run the football on them," Hollis said. "We felt like we could be physical against them and we were."
Adams, whose previous best game this year was 64 yards against Jacksonville State, bounced into the postgame interview session looking like he could play another game.
"I'm not tired at all," said Adams, whose personal best is 183 yards gained against New Mexico State last year. "I could have carried it more than that. Unfortunately we were trying to catch up."
The reason the Indians were playing catch-up had much to do with Manning, the younger brother of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of Ole Miss great Archie Manning. Eli Manning had 183 passing yards and a touchdown in the first half as the Rebels built a 21-0 lead.
"He's such a well-prepared player each week," Ole Miss Coach David Cutcliffe said. "Then he plays to the best of his ability."
Manning was 20 of 29 for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns as he kept the Rebels in the lead.
"I thought we played really hard, and I thought Arkansas State played hard and they challenged us," Manning said. "They ran some pretty weird fronts and were putting some defensive players in some weird positions."
ASU grabbed the momentum by forcing Ole Miss to punt after closing within 21-7 just before halftime, then opened the second half with a drive featuring a 45-yard completion from Josh Driscoll to Jerome Stegall and ending with Andy McPherson's 15-yard field goal.
The Indians stopped the Rebels at the 28 and Jonathan Nichols missed his first field goal attempt of the year to leave it at 21-10 with 7:21 left in the third quarter.
"I thought they did an outstanding job," Cutcliffe said. "They had two weeks of preparation and they did a lot of things on defense that we hadn't seen."
The score didn't change until Toward Sanford plunged in from the 1 with 12:15 left in the game, capping an Ole Miss drive aided by an ASU personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
But the Indians weren't finished. With 7:58 left, Adams topped off a 79-yard drive with his 1-yard run around right end to pull ASU within 28-17.
Freshman quarterback Elliot Jacobs, who has shared time with Driscoll but was getting his first action of the game, completed an 18-yard pass to tight end Jerry Pegues, of Oxford, Miss., for a first down at the 4 to set up the touchdown.
"I knew Jonathan Adams was a good football player and I thought he played extremely well," Cutcliffe said. "They did a lot of positive things. At times we played well, but we've got a lot to fix."
Rush defense might be one of those things, thanks to the performance of Adams, who seemed to get stronger as the game went on.
"I really could play some more," Adams said. "But the game's over with."
This article was published on October 7, 2001
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