Just when Mississippi State cut the Arkansas lead to two possessions at the end of the third quarter, the Razorbacks exploded for 17 unanswered points to win in Starkville by a dominant 58-25 score.
Mississippi State (1-7, 0-4 SEC) dropped its seventh consecutive game while allowing 673 total yards of offense, committing five turnovers, and giving up two turnovers on downs. Arkansas (5-3, 3-2) sought and got revenge over the Bulldogs, following a 7-3 loss in 2023. Here’s a quick recap of Saturday’s game.
Scoring summary
After Arkansas forced a Mississippi State fumble on the opening possession, it only took three plays for quarterback Taylen Green to find the end zone on an eight-yard run off the left tackle.
Mississippi State responded on the very next drive when freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren, Jr., hit running back Davon Booth on a flat route that ended 54 yards later for a tying score.
Arkansas then knocked in a chip shot field goal to go up 10-7 before Mississippi State placekicker Kyle Ferrie missed a chance of his own. The momentum from the miss resulted in two straight Green touchdown passes, to tight end Luke Hasz and Tylertown native Jordan Anthony to make for a 24-7 score minutes into the second quarter.
Mississippi State marched down the field in six plays to get into field goal range as Ferrie hit a redemption shot from 36 yards out seconds after the two-minute warning. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they left too much time on the clock as Green hit tight end Shamar Easter for another touchdown with 16 seconds remaining before halftime. The score was 31-10 in Arkansas’ favor going into the locker room.
Coming back out of the gates hot, Arkansas scored 10 points on its first two possessions. Mississippi State’s attempt at a comeback then came with Van Buren tossing a 31-yard score to Kevin Coleman, Jr. A Bulldog interception set up good field position for Van Buren to fake a handoff and take it in himself and cut the deficit to 41-25 at the end of three quarters.
It was all Arkansas in the fourth quarter as another Green-Hasz connection plus a field goal and a Rashod Dubinion touchdown run made the final score 58-25.
What the coach said
Unable to find a win since week one against Eastern Kentucky, Mississippi State first-year head coach Jeff Lebby discussed the direction of the Bulldogs at this point in the season and what they need to do to turn it around with four games left.
“When you play good football teams, you have to be on the right side of the ball,” Lebby said. “We have to continue doing things better on defense like tackling, holding opponents to field goal scores, and limiting the takeaways.”
Mississippi State turned the ball over five times – three fumbles and two interceptions – compared to Arkansas’s mere turnover in the third quarter.
Numbers never lie
Green was all over the place for Arkansas. The Boise State transfer finished with 314 passing yards on 23 of 29 attempts with five touchdown passes. On the ground, he added 79 yards and a touchdown run.
Mississippi State was led offensively by Van Buren, who threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns on 22 of 31 attempts. The freshman signal-caller did throw two interceptions, lose a couple of fumbles, and was sacked four times.
Booth had 93 rushing yards on 17 carries as the Bulldogs totaled 162 yards on the ground. He added the 54-yard touchdown pass for a season-high in yardage. Coleman caught eight passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
Even though the defense was absent for most of the day, Jackson native Stone Blanton had double-digit tackles (10) as linebacker Nic Mitchell had an interception and one deflection.
Next up
Mississippi State will be back at Davis Wade Stadium for homecoming on Saturday, Nov. 2, against the University of Massachusetts. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on SEC Network.
