FAYETTEVILLE — A day after suffering a concussion against Kentucky, Michael Smith didn’t think he’d be able to play against Ole Miss on Saturday.

“I don’t even remember what I was thinking last Sunday,” Smith said.

In fact, it wasn’t until Friday that Arkansas’ leading rusher found out for sure he’d be play against the Rebels.

Smith didn’t show any ill effects from the concussion in the Razorbacks’ 23-21 loss to the Rebels — rushing for more than 100 yards for the fourth-straight game and fifth time in six games. The junior finished with 129 yards on 19 carries, very near his Southeastern Conference-leading 131.8 yards-per-game average entering the game.

“He’s a tough guy,” Arkansas senior center Jonathan Luigs said. “Any time you have a guy undersized like that in this conference and banged up, and (he) comes out and performs like that against a tough team, it says a lot of himself and about his leadership for this team.”

Smith said he didn’t practice on Tuesday and that he was still suffering from the concussion as late as Wednesday. It was on Thursday that he finally started feeling like himself, and he was finally cleared by doctors on Friday.

“On Thursday, the trainer and doctor said I made great strides in getting my focus back and understanding the simple things,” Smith said.

Once the game started, Smith quickly asserted himself — breaking a 26-yard run on Arkansas’ second series. He finished with 68 yards rushing on 10 carries in the first half.

“Physically, I felt fine,” Smith said. “I got a lot of rest and a lot of time to get my body back and get my mind back.”

Smith’s also added a 20-yard run late in the game, a run that set up Casey Dick’s 22-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs that closed Ole Miss’ lead to 23-21 with 1 minute, 7 seconds remaining.

“He looked pretty good,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. “He’s a great player. You can’t say enough about how big his heart is and how tough he is.”

Smith said the 19 carries he had in the game were somewhat of a relief after carrying the ball 35 times in each of the previous two games and 90 over the last three. Smith was, however, the only Arkansas running back to run the ball — though his thoughts were primarily on the tough loss and not his effort.

“I didn’t run as much so I’m not beat up,” Smith said. “I’m back to how I felt in the beginning of the year, not bad at all.

“I’m hurting inside.”