MSU Holds On To Beat Arkansas 17-10

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – No. 1 Mississippi State (8-0, 5-0 SEC) took down Arkansas (4-5, 0-5) 17-10 at Davis Wade Stadium to secure its first winning conference record under head coach Dan Mullen.

“A win is a win, man,” sophomore defensive lineman Chris Jones said. “You can say barely or ugly, but a win is a win.”

MSU’s offense fought through turnovers and penalties, but posted an impressive total of 459 yards, largely on the back of junior quarterback Dak Prescott. The signal-caller was 18-of-27 for 331 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, becoming the first quarterback to top 300 yards under Mullen at MSU.

Prescott may not have expected to set a personal-best, but he wasn’t surprised at the success.

“They don’t do too many complicated things on defense,” he said, “so we knew we’d have some success in the passing game.”

As part of that passing success, junior running back Josh Robinson, while only totaling 64 yards on the ground, racked up 110 yards through the air. It was, naturally, his first 100-yard receiving game.

“I’m speechless,” Robinson said before continuing to speak. “I told Dak the check downs were there. He went through his check downs and happened to see me there.”

The breakout player, however, was probably sophomore receiver Fred Ross. The big-bodied second year player had the highlight of the game on his wide-open 69-yard touchdown reception.

“The defender lost me,” he said with a smile.

The Bulldogs were particularly impressive on defense, holding the Razorbacks’ vaunted rushing attack to only 128 yards. After UA’s initial drive was a success, defensive coordinator Geoff Collins made some adjustments and largely held them in check, especially in the redzone.

The Razorbacks came in with two of the top six rushers in the SEC and MSU held both under 100 yards.

“They love downhill running and that’s what we’re built for,” Jones said. “I felt like our D-line fought to get pressure.”

It was junior cornerback Will Redmond who won the game by intercepting an Arkansas pass in the endzone with 15 seconds left, leading Robinson to call him the best cornerback on the team. Redmond has been particularly impressive the last month and shown a consistent ability to make open-field tackles in addition to his strong coverage.

Mullen credited much of Redmond’s emergence to MSU’s use of a 1-A and 1-B defense, meaning Redmond had plenty of experience to build from in the early parts of the season.

“Will’s a smart and very, very intelligent young man,” he said. “He really studies the game and wants to be a great player.”

Though, as well as Redmond and the defensive line played, senior linebacker Matt Wells was the star of the game on that side of the ball, racking up a team-high nine tackles and excelling in pass coverage.

Overall, as Mullen explained it in post-game, MSU played a very good game. The only things holding his team back were “sloppy” mistakes and penalties on offense, events marring what was otherwise a very impressive offensive performance.

Going forward, Mullen said they will review the mistakes and hopefully correct them.

“We’re not going to shy away from anything,” he said.

The Bulldogs host UT-Martin next week for Homecoming in a 3 p.m. central SEC Network broadcast.