Ole Miss took control of the fourth quarter and turned away the Oklahoma Sooners in a 34-26-win Saturday at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman.

The No. 8 Rebels improved to 7-1, 4-1 SEC, and the Sooners are now 6-2, 2-2 SEC, and dropped six spots to No. 18 in the AP Poll.

“This was a big win,” said Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin. “This was hard and we certainly didn’t want to go on the road and lose the two in a row before you come home.”

OU head coach Brent Venables said his team was disappointed with the loss.

“I hurt for our guys, they fought their butt off,” OU head coach Brent Venables said. “I thought they showed great toughness and resolve. We didn’t coach them good enough, we didn’t play good enough situationally, but we still had a chance to go down and tie a really good football team. I hurt for the guys and they are hurting right now, but we’ve got to get ourselves up off the mat and respond. We’ve got a lot of football still in front of us.”

Ole Miss scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter while holding the Sooners to only a field goal.

OU opened the second quarter with a 76-yard touchdown pass from John Mateer to Isaiah Sategna III, to tie the Rebels at 10-10.

Ole Miss then scored a safety followed by a field goal and a touchdown, and the Rebels led 22-10 at halftime.

Oklahoma mounted a comeback in the third quarter, with a pair of touchdown runs by Xavier Robinson and a Tate Sandell field goal, to pull ahead of the Rebels, 26-25.

The Rebels answered by scoring twice in the fourth quarter, with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Trinidad Chambliss to Trace Bruckler and a 37-yard field goal by Lucas Carneiro. The Rebels defense held the Sooners scoreless in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

“I told the staff earlier in the week that this game was going to come down to third and fourth downs,” Venables said. “I thought we really got after them on first and second down today, but they were able to sustain some drives and had 87 plays to our 60.”

Ole Miss was 9-of-21 on third down conversions and 2-of-3 on fourth downs, while the Sooners were 4-of-14 on third downs and 1-3 on fourth downs.

“They were just under 46-percent conversion rate on third and fourth down, and we were not even 30-percent, and to me that was the difference in the game” Venables said.

For the Sooners, Sategna had a career-high 131 receiving yards, Robinson totaled a career-high 109 rushing yards on nine carries, including touchdown runs of 65 (a career long) and 9 yards.

Mateer completed 17-of-31 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown. Deion Burks added four receptions for 32 yards, and tight end Jaren Kanak had three receptions for 30 yards.

Kip Lewis led the Sooners’ defense with a game-high 12 tackles, while Robert Spears-Jennings tallied 11 stops and a forced fumble.

Sandell connected on both of his field goal attempts from 42 yards out. He is 14 of 15 on the season and has made 14 straight field goal attempts.

For Ole Miss, Chambliss completed 24-of-44 passes for 315 yards and one touchdown. Kewan Lacy carried the ball 27 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

The Rebels racked up a total of 431 yards of total offense while holding the Sooners to 359 total yards.

Oklahoma travels to Knoxville, Tenn., this Saturday to face Tennessee. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Central on ABC.