- Arkansas faces off against #1 Mississippi State in the Razorbacks’ fifth consecutive SEC game against a Top 10 opponent. It is the first time in FBS history that a team has played five straight conference games against Top 10 foes. Northwestern played four straight conference games against Top 10 teams in 1958.
- Arkansas is 4-16 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Three of the four wins came against Texas while the most recent victory was in 2007 when the Razorbacks upset No. 1 LSU in a triple-overtime thriller, 50-48.
- Bret Bielema is 1-2 vs. No. 1 ranked opponents as a head coach. The victory came when then-No. 18 ranked Wisconsin defeated Ohio State 31-18 in 2010. As an assistant coach, Bielema is 1-1 vs. the top-ranked team. As the defensive coordinator at Kansas State, the 13th-ranked Wildcats beat No. 1 Oklahoma in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game, 35-7.
- Arkansas is the only team in the nation with two RBs to gain 700-plus yards rushing. Junior Jonathan Williams ranks third in the SEC with 830 yards while sophomore Alex Collins ranks sixth with 747 rushing yards.
- Arkansas features one of the best rushing attacks in the SEC. The Razorbacks rank fourth in the league, averaging 258.9 rushing yards per game. The mark is good for 15th nationally.
- Senior DE Trey Flowers is third in school history with 40.0 TFL. He needs just seven more to move into second place all time.
- Jonathan Williams (10) and Alex Collins (9) rank first and fourth, respectively, in the SEC in rushing touchdowns
- Including the Mississippi State game, five of Arkansas’ nine opponents will have been ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the game.
- Arkansas will play the toughest schedule in the nation in 2014 according to the NCAA, with its opponents combining for a 103-54 (.656) record in 2013.
9:37 p.m. 17-10 Mississippi State, final — Brandon Allen, when he found Hunter Henry, willed Arkansas down the field into scoring range in the final seconds. But then he went to Demetrius Wilson in end zone, underthrew him and was picked off by Will Redmon to seal the deal for Mississippi State.
9:30 p.m. 17-10 Mississippi State — Arkansas has the ball a world away from the end zone they’ve reached just once tonight, and only 2:29 left to play.
9:21 p.m. — Arkansas had an answer for Mississippi State’s touchdown that came up a yard or so short, as Alex Collins was stuffed on fourth down from the 2. The Razorbacks converted four third downs and ate up a ton of clock but inside the 5 they reached the abyss and couldn’t push State over.
Arkansas tried to run Jonathan WIlliams wide on third down against MSU’s speed and that didn’t work, so the answer was a fourth down gouge at the middle for Collins that didn’t work, just like the fourth down failures against Texas A&M and Alabama in crunch time.
9:06 p.m. — As is usually the case, the guy you’re seeing chasing a receiver headed for a touchdown isn’t the one who was victimized, and such was the case on the MSU touchdown. The replay shows that Alan Turner once against in the fourth quarter squatted on the quarterback’s look and let the receiver run past him. Tevin Mitchel was the nickel in coverage too but gave off to the safety, who wasn’t there.
9:02 p.m. 17-10 Mississippi State — All we can tell from the first glance is that Sleepy McKinney, playing safety in place of somebody else, never bothered to follow a receiver in zone coverage who worked his way down the MSU left sideline and it turns into yet another ridiculous touchdown by the opponents vs. the Hogs who have yet again played their ass off only to make mistake after mistake and botch it all. The play covered 69 yards from Prescott to Fred Ross, who could have stopped and signed autographs before scoring.
I just tweeted this as the play was developing: A theater reviewer eventually gets tired of covering Shakespeare tragedies week after week after week. I’m tired folks.
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