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Arkansas Vs. Ole Miss Preview: Even Houston Nutt Can't Pull This Upset

Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Mississippi Rebels, 12:21 p.m. ET, SEC Network

There's really nothing I like less than looking at a game and saying that a team has no chance. Particularly when that team is coached by Houston Nutt. But I see no circumstances under which Ole Miss can hope to defeat Arkansas tomorrow.

Ole Miss literally ranks better than 50th in the nation in just two of the statistical categories tracked by the NCAA: punt returns and net punting. If punting really were winning, Ole Miss would be in much better shape than its 2-4 record suggests. Those are also the only statistics in which the Rebels land above seventh in the SEC.

Arkansas, meanwhile, is the kind of team that would be firmly in the running for the SEC West were it not for LSU and Alabama. (And the Razorbacks might still be able to win the division, if the Tide gets upset twice and the Hogs can take down the Bayou Bengals.) The running offense has slipped as much as you might expect with Knile Davis down, but the passing offense has made Arkansas the most prolific offense in the league in terms of yardage and second in points. Some of the defensive numbers are kind of lackluster, but that's not going to be an issue against Ole Miss.

Emotionally, a lot of the luster is gone from the Nutt Bowl now that Bobby Petrino has guided the Hogs to a BCS berth and the Rebels have begun to drift. Which is ironic, given that this game could be yet another nail in the coffin of Nutt's tenure in Oxford.

Or will be, really. Nutt might yet spring one of his trademark upsets before the year is out, but it's hard to see Arkansas being that game. Like it or not.

Arkansas 43, Ole Miss 9