ARLINGTON, Texas — The Ole Miss Rebels were in a serious rhythm.

Dexter McCluster kept piling up yards. The defense kept shutting down Oklahoma State’s offense. And the quarterbacks kept throwing interceptions.

Two out of three was good enough.

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McCluster ran for 182 yards and two touchdowns, an 86-yarder and a 2-yarder that put the Rebels ahead for good with 4:03 to play, and they won their second consecutive Cotton Bowl by beating Oklahoma State 21-7 on Saturday.

It was the fourth consecutive bowl victory and eighth in nine appearances for Ole Miss, but the first time it has won bowl games in back-to-back seasons since 2002 and 2003.

Ole Miss is also the first team to win back-to-back Cotton Bowls since Notre Dame in 1993 and ‘94, and just the fifth overall.

“It means a lot. It’s been a long time since Ole Miss won two bowl games back-to-back. They say this game is the first game of the next year and it’s like an extra spring (practice) for next year. As a senior, we’re leaving a good legacy that we can build on for Coach Nutt and the staff for years to come,” said Ole Miss linebacker Patrick Trahan, whose 34-yard fumble return for a touchdown sealed it with just over three minutes to play in the game.

McCluster’s big day earned him the Cotton Bowl’s Offensive MVP award for the second straight year. He’s the first player to accomplish the feat since SMU legend Doak Walker did it in 1948 and ‘49. The game, though, was really won by Ole Miss’ staunch defense.

The Rebels forced five turnovers and held Oklahoma State to a paltry 259 yards of total offense. Oklahoma State didn’t get a first down on its first five possessions, and needed a personal foul penalty on Ole Miss to get its first one.

Ole Miss’ defense also stood tall when it mattered most.

Midway through the third quarter, Ole Miss stopped the Cowboys on four straight plays inside the 2-yard line to keep it tied at 7-7. In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter ripped off a 46-yard run and quarterback Zac Robinson followed it up with a 14-yard keeper to the Ole Miss 19. On the next play, defensive tackle Jerrell Powe beat his man off the snap so badly that Robinson thought he was offsides and had a free play. Robinson chucked a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Kendrick Lewis.

“It was like the guy was in the backfield. He snapped it and we didn’t get the call I guess,” said Robinson, who was 13-of-31 passing for 118 yards, with no touchdowns and four interceptions. “No question it took the air out of our guys. We work on that play so much during the week. When we get it executed like that, try to catch a cheap one, you know, it was frustrating.”

Ole Miss’ defense also put the exclamation point on the win by forcing two turnovers in the last three minutes-plus. Trahan returned a fumble — forced by Lewis — 34 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-7 with 3:12 to play. On Oklahoma State’s next drive, Trahan intercepted Robinson at the Ole Miss 25 to seal it.

“Execution. We just practiced from the previous game, tried to polish off the mistakes. Everybody tried to be assignment sound and we got the job done,” Ole Miss defensive tackle Kentrell Lockett said.

Although the Rebels were dominant on defense, the offense failed to capitalize because of a neverending stream of mistakes.

A 16-play drive in the first quarter was stopped at the goal line when Powe — lined up as a fullback — failed to score on two straight carries from inside the 2. Quarterback Jevan Snead threw three interceptions in the first half, and was knocked out of the game for a spell by a hard hit and his poor play. Backup quarterback Nathan Stanley came in and threw another pick inside his own 30 that led to Oklahoma State’s only touchdown.

Another drive reached the 3-yard line before a false start penalty, two sacks and an incompletion forced a 39-yard field goal try by Joshua Shene. He pulled it wide left for his second miss of the game and only his second miss this season from inside 40 yards.

Ole Miss also lost one fumble and recovered another. In all, the Rebels had five turnovers.

“It was ugly. I hate that. I hate that people in the country had to see that, because we’re better than that,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. “That infuriates you. We have a good preparation week taking care of the ball, throwing, catching, handing off. When you can’t hand off the ball without going down, you’re shaking your head. What’s the deal?”

Luckily, the Rebels had McCluster.

The 5-foot-9 senior carried the ball a career-high 32 times and was a unanimous choice as Offensive MVP. After Snead was knocked out of the game in the second quarter, McCluster took a handoff on the first play of Ole Miss’ next possession and went 86 yards for a touchdown. It was the second-longest TD run in Cotton Bowl history.

In the fourth quarter, McCluster struck again. With the game tied 7-7, a Robinson fumble set up the Rebels at the OSU 34. They drove to the 2 and had a first-and-goal. McCluster took a direct snap from the Wild Rebel formation, ran left and went airborne from the 3-yard line. He landed 2 yards deep in the end zone with the go-ahead score with 4:03 left.

Trahan’s fumble return a minute later put it out of reach.

“We knew we were going to run his legs off today,” Nutt said. “Now, I did expect the passing game to be much better. I did expect us to have 35 or 40 points today. That’s what’s disappointing. Hey, it didn’t happen. Thank goodness for team, team, team, defense and special teams. It’s just a tremendous team effort.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com