Live with Jim Harris: Arkansas at Mississippi State

10 years ago

It’s game day: Arkansas at Mississippi State. Not just any Mississippi State, but the No. 1 team in all of college football Mississippi State. No better time than tonight on ESPN 2 starting at 6:15 for the Hogs to grab their first SEC win of the Bret Bielema Era. Jim Harris will be posting his thoughts throughout the game here, so check this page often. (Scroll down about halfway and you’ll see the posts from Jim.) STORYLINES

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.

#RAZORFACTS

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.

8:57 p.m. — Let’s see. Arkansas lost a yard on first down on a swing pass to Hatcher that has worked all game. End of quarter. Then Hunter Henry, coming out of the changing of ends of the field, can’t stay still on a long wait for the snap and it’s a penalty. Now second and 16 at the 25. Brandon Allen scrambles and puts a nice toss in the hands of Kody Walker, who has already displayed some questionable hands his whole career, and he’s open in the middle of the field and drops it. Third and 16, Allen rolls but nobody can get open (we saw this in August against Arkansas’ defense, so why should this surprise). He throws it away. But Arkansas has its place kicking solved, so all is well, right. No. McFain pushes the 42-yard field goal right of the right upright. Nothing out of a 42-yard run by Collins.

8:49 — 10-10, end of three. Huge run on third-and-6 by Alex Collins for 42 yards when he looked like he might only have 3, and only a great play by MSU’s senior linebacker Matthew Wells to run him down. Serious speed by that guy saved a touchdown. It was third-and-6 because, yet again, Arkansas had one of those penalties that typically are drive killers — Denver Kirkland jumped before the snap on third-and-1. Arkansas threatening as we move into the fourth quarter.

8:39 p.m. — Senior defensive end Trey Flowers is leaving it all on the field tonight. Flowers had a huge and on three straight plays after MSU quickly reached the UA 25, and MSU had to settle for Sobiesk field goal from 37 yards out. We’re finally tied up against with 3:50 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs began breaking tackles of the linebackers, both on Josh Robinson and on Dak Prescott keeping — maybe they are tiring out playing the whole game? — and then Prescott got hot with his passing to big gains down field. However, one was wiped out by an illegal man downfield that helped slow the push. But Flowers did the most slowing of it to hold MSU to a field goal. We’ve seen a few of these 10-10 second-half ties in this stadium over the years and they eventually turned into overtime games that, amazingly, Arkansas won.

8:32 p.m. — The penalties for 15 on Drew Morgan (a personal foul) and 5 on Keon Hatcher for jumping the gun on second down end the possession for Arkansas, and Sam Irwin-Hill punts it away. MSU starts at its 35.