Ole Miss routs Oklahoma State in Sugar Bowl

NEW ORLEANS – It was a huge day for Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns in a old fashion 48-20 SEC beat down of Oklahoma State in the 81st Annual Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Kelly, the Most Valuable Player of the game, threw three of the four touchdown passes to LaQuan Treadwell, the talented Ole Miss receive who declared for the NFL Draft a few days later.
Rebel head coach Hugh Freeze was ecstatic for his team’s performance in the game, as well as the entire season.
“It’s hard to express, really, all of the feelings that you have and the emotions that you have when you put so much into a team game with great people at a university that you care about, kids that you care about.”
“And, you know, you go through the disappointments. This team could have easily have gone a lot of different directions after the heartbreaking Arkansas loss. And we found ourselves deciding to get better.”
After giving up a 26-yard field goal to Oklahoma St. in the first quarter, the Rebels went on a 34-3 run in the next 19:52 to take a commanding 34-6 lead at halftime.
Ole Miss first points of the night came on a 34-yard field goal from Gary Wunderlich with 2:15 left in the first quarter. From that point on it was the Chad Kelly show, as he connected on passes of 31, 34 and 10 yards, all for touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns were to Treadwell, the other to Cody Core.
The Rebels and Cowboys exchanged field goals late in the second quarter to make the score 27-6. However, Ole Miss added another score as time expired in the first half on a lateral to offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil.
Ole Miss and Oklahoma St. exchanged touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters respectively. The Rebels scored on a 36-yard jaunt by Jordan Wilkins and a 14-yard pass from Kelly to Treadwell.
Oklahoma St. quarterback J.W. Walsh added to the Cowboy’s total by rushing for two touchdowns; one from two-yards out and the other from eight-yards out.
The vaunted Cowboy offense was held in check most of the night, only garnering 366 total yards; a miniscule 63 yards came from the running game.
Oklahoma St. head coach Mike Gundy commented on his team’s offensive performance after the game.
“That was a tough game for us. They’re a good football team. We knew that before coming in. And the snowball started downhill on us in the second quarter, and we couldn’t slow them down from big plays on offense.”