On a beautiful day in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Razorbacks and Bulldogs met in a sluggish, gritty matchup between winless Southeastern Conference Western Division foes. Mississippi State started the day with bad news as Chris Low from ESPN reported that quarterback Will Rogers would be out against the Razorbacks. With Will Rogers out on Saturday, Coach Arnett and his staff made the no-brainer decision and went with the Vanderbilt transfer, Mike Wright, as the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs.

In the second play from scrimmage, Mike Wright telegraphed a pass right to the Arkansas defense, leading to a Razorbacks field goal for an early 3-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Mississippi State would respond early in the second quarter when Wright and the Mississippi State offense put together an impressive drive, capping it off with a touchdown pass from Wright to Woody to make it 7-3 Bulldogs. A few stops later, by the Mississippi State defense, the Bulldogs would carry a 7-3 lead to the locker room. At the break, the Mississippi State defense held the Arkansas offense to under 100 yards of total production.

Starting the second half as they left off, the Mississippi State defense would stop the Razorbacks and KJ Jefferson on a massive 4th and one. As it goes, Mississippi State started with an excellent field position to only stall, ending with a disappointing punt.

With the yellow flags piling up on the field, Mississippi State wasted a 63-yard touchdown run from Mike Wright to only punt the ball back to the Razorbacks with a little over 13 minutes remaining in the game. However, Mississippi State’s defense would hold the line again, forcing KJ Jefferson to throw his first interception of the day with 9:11 remaining in the game.

The Mississippi State defense answered the call on Saturday by playing like a pack of rabid wild Bulldogs. Arkansas and KJ Jefferson struggled to gain momentum after stalling drives on 3rd and long. Today was the day Coach Arnett had been waiting for all season for Mississippi State to play a complete game on the defensive side of the ball.

With the win over Arkansas, Mississippi State improves to 4-3 on the season and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play.

Mississippi State will travel to Auburn next Saturday to take on the Auburn Tigers.