Arkansas vs Miss St Preview: QB Issues

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images North America

In this week’s preview, Arkansas faces the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Arkansas has never lost to Mississippi St. in the state of Arkansas. The Razorbacks have also won last 11/12 meetings between these two teams.

Mississippi State has wins against only 5 teams: Memphis, La Tech (2OT), UAB, Kentucky, and UT-Martin. They have played 5 road games in which they are 3-2. Against ranked opponents they are 0-3 with a close loss to South Carolina (14-12).

Offense

Bulldogs will have problems containing Wright Photo By: Mark Wagner, ArkansasSports360.com

Arkansas’ offense looks to have a better challenge than Tennessee, who was ranked last in the SEC in every major defensive category.

Mississippi St SEC Rankings

  • Scoring Defense: Ranked 6th (Arkansas 7th)
  • Rushing Defense: Ranked 7th (Arkansas 8th)
  • Passing Defense: Ranked 4th (Arkansas 7th)

On the flip side, Mississippi State has YET to figure out their QB situation. Chris Relf will be returning from an injury. However, 3 QBs have seen playing time in the past month: Favre, Relf, and Russell. Mullen hasn’t been able to figure out the passing game situation for the Bulldogs.

The running game for Miss. St. is an entirely different story. Miss State RB Vick Ballard has accounted for 811/3733 Total Yards (almost 25%) for the Bulldogs. QB Chris Relf is also ranked 3rd on the team in rushing yards with 262.

Defense

Arkansas will face a Bulldog offense that has had problems all year. Mississippi State’s offense ranks at the bottom of nearly every major offensive statistic in the SEC.

Mississippi St SEC Rankings

  • Scoring Offense: Ranked 9th (Arkansas 1st)
  • Rushing Offense: Ranked 10th (Arkansas 7th)
  • Passing Offense: Ranked 7th (Arkansas 1st)

Mississippi State will have major problems containing the Arkansas offense.

In their five losses (all against higher-ranking offenses), the Bulldogs have given up an average of 346 yards a game. Interestingly enough, in their 5 wins (all against lower nationally-ranked offenses), they give up an average of 359 yards a game. Last week, the Bulldogs gave up 454 yards to…….UT Martin.

Conclusion

The results of this game should come directly from the Miss St offensive battle with Arkansas’ defense. This should be a fun game to watch. I believe that the Bulldogs just have not found an offense yet that is capable of comparing to Arkansas.

Prediction: Arkansas 49 Miss State 24

Article written by

Arkansas born and bred. Season Ticket Holder for 12 Years. I am an Arkansas Alum that received an undergraduate and graduate degree for Information Systems.