Ole Miss 3rd-quarter scoring blitz dooms Oklahoma upset bid

A banged up Oklahoma offense put a big scare in 18th-ranked Ole Miss for a half on Saturday, but the nation's second-best offensive team took control of the game after halftime and shut down an OU upset bid with a 26-14 victory.

Ole Miss scored on its first possession, driving 65 yards on six plays, capped off on a nine-yard touchdown run by Henry Parrish Jr. Oklahoma mounted a 10-play drive on its first offensive possession that stalled on the Ole Miss two-yard line when a fourth-down pass by Jackson Arnold fell incomplete in the end zone.

Oklahoma responded with a tying touchdown of its own the second time it had the ball. Arnold connected with tight end Blake Sharp on an 11-yards touchdown pass completing a 60-yard scoring drive in eight plays.

Ole Miss added a 35-yard field goal by Cade Davis to regain the lead at 10-7 midway through the second quarter.

The Oklahoma offense, operating under a new offense coordinator and play caller after the dismissal earlier in the week of Seth Littrell, looked as good in the first half as they half all season against an SEC opponent, outgaining an outstanding Ole Miss offense 235 to 162 in the opening 30 minutes. A touchdown pass by Arnold to walk-on wide receiver Jordan Jacob in the closing seconds of the first half produced a 14-10 Oklahoma lead at the intermission.

The second half was a completely different story, as Ole Miss took over the game on both sides of the ball. The Rebels scored touchdowns on two long scoring drives the first two times it had the ball in th second half to erase the Sooners' halftime advantage and go back out in front 23-14 with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.

Oklahoma couldn't get any kind of offensive rhythm in the second half as the Ole Miss defense made necessary adjustments and held the Sooner offense which was having its way with the SEC's best defensive team in the opening half, on it heels most of the final 30 minutes. In seven second-half possessions, OU had three three-and-outs, punted five times, failed on a fourth-down attempt and ran five plays before the game ended.

That was how dominant Ole Miss was when its defense tightened things up in the second half. The Rebels limited Oklahoma to just 94 yards of second-half offense. Meanwhile, rolled up 218 yards in the second half to finish with 380 yards for the game, which is still almost 200 yards below the Rebels' season average.

Oklahoma suffered its third straight loss after starting the season 4-1 and has now lost four of its five games against SEC opponents. The Sooners fall to 4-4 overall and will get somewhat of a breather next weekend when they host Maine, and FCS team out of the American East Conference, at Gaylord Family -- Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Here are four prime takeaways that help tell the story of the game:

Oklahoma's run game showed up in grand style

Entering the game with Ole Miss, Oklahoma was averaging just 112 rushing yards per game, which ranked 114th out of 134 FBS teams. The Sooners were going up against the nation's No. 1 rush defense in Ole Miss. Led by Jovantae Barnes' 67 yards on 17 carries, Oklahoma gained 147 net yards on the ground, its third highest output of the season and best against an SEC opponent. This number would have been even higher if it weren't for nine quarterback sacks and 15 tackles for loss by the Ole Miss defense.

Sooners' pass protection once again pathetic

Oklahoma started its seventh different offensive line combination in eight games. The Sooners led the country in sacks allowed coming into the Ole Miss game with 32, and they added to that total giving up nine more sacks on Saturday. Six of those sacks came in OU's last three possessions in the game. In the last two games alone, the Sooner offensive line has allowed an atrocious 18 sacks.

Jackson Arnold has his best game of the season, albeit in a loss

Jackson Arnold completed 71 percent of his pass attempts (22 of 31) for 182 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also was credited with 39 yards rushing, a total that would have been even higher were it not for the nine times he was sacked by the Ole Miss pass rush. His 182 passing yards was his second highest total of the season. He had 225 passing yards but just one touchdown in the loss a week ago to South Carolina.

Explosive plays are not in OU's offensive tool bag this season

The Oklahoma offense, which has been the sixth worst out of 134 FBS teams in terms of yards per game, has been severely hampered by injuries at all levels of the offense and the absence of the team's four best returning wide receivers in every game this season as well as the leading receiver on this year's team (Deion Burks) for the past four games. The Sooners have had fewer than 20 explosive plays (plays of 20 or more yards) all season. They had only two plays of 20-plus yards against Ole Miss, and one of those came on the final play of the game when Jackson Arnold scampered for 24 yards. The other was a 20-yard pass reception by Bauer Sharp in the first quarter.