FAYETTEVILLE -- Just like last week a pair of SEC teams will be seeking their first conference win this season in Razorback Stadium on Saturday.
Arkansas (2-6, 0-4) and Mississippi State (4-4, 0-4) are both owners of losing streaks as well. Arkansas won its first two games, but haven't won since. Mississippi State opened the season 4-0 including an impressive 24-20 win over then No. 12 Arizona State. But once they both entered SEC play it hasn't worked out for either. Bobby Petrino is hoping that changes for the Razorbacks on Saturday.
"We’re looking forward to the matchup," Petrino said. "They’ve done a really nice job with their offense. Their quarterback is playing well. It’ll be a great challenge for our defense. Defensively, they’re being very aggressive and playing fast so I think it’ll also be a great challenge for our offense. We had a great practice last night so I’m excited about that. And our players are in a good mindset."
Blake Shapen is the Mississippi State quarterback who has been excellent this season. While not a running threat (75- (-19)- 1), Shapen can throw the football. He has completed 150 of 227 passes for 1,906 yards, 13 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
"He gets the ball out of… He's got a really quick release," Petrino said. "He gets the ball out of his hand. He looks like he's very, very smart. We have a little bit of inside information because Coach Mateos was with him at Baylor, so we know a little bit more about him, probably, but he's played well for them."
Petrino knows Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby will usually have a very good offense and this year is no different.
"I mean, there's different aspects to it," Petrino said. "They like to spread out their splits, and they like to go fast and run a lot of just inside zone and RPO. They're probably the No. 1 RPO team that we'll have faced all year long, them and probably Tennessee. So we've got to do a good job of it. We've got to be on top of where our eyes are and understand what their formations are and what tips and things we can have based off of their splits and alignments."
Petrino feels Taylen Green and the offensive line have got to be on top of their game because of a very aggressive defense from the Bulldogs particularly on third down.
"Yeah, they’ve been doing a lot of pressures on third down," Petrino said. "They did a nice job of attacking both Texas and A&M with their pressure package. They’ve gotten a lot of interceptions. They’ve been able to go play the ball in the air. And all their secondary guys have been able to get interceptions."
Lebby knows his defense will be challenged against Petrino's high flying offense.
"Yeah, he just puts you in a ton of really, really hard spots defensively," Lebby said. "Does a great job running the football, does a great job running the quarterback, does a great job with play-action pass and movements, and always has. Putting his guys in position for success. Got an elite quarterback. He has great quarterbacks and coached them in a great way to give the offense a chance to have great balance, make people play 11 on 11, which makes it really, really tough defensively."
While the Arkansas defense has been much maligned this season they did turn in a better performance against Auburn last Saturday in a 33-24 loss.
"They’re playing a lot of different guys," Lebby said. "They’re playing in a lot of different personnel groupings over the last three weeks. I’ve seen them get better. I thought last week, the way they played defensively gave them an opportunity to win the game with what I thought was probably their best performance defensively. Did some really good things. Made it really, really hard on Auburn. Again, playing in a bunch of different personnel groupings, which to me gives us a lot to prepare for."
Petrino will for the first time in three weeks have his three defensive tackles available. Cam Ball missed last week's game and Danny Saili was out the previous contest. Ian Geffrard is the other in the rotation.
"Yeah, we miss Cam when he’s not out there," Petrino said. "He’s such a great leader for us and plays with extreme effort. He has great experience, so he helps everybody else out on the field. We were certainly happy to have him back out there full speed yesterday.
"They’re in good shape. Those guys have had to play a lot of plays for us. It was good to have Danny back. He’s a very explosive player. He’s got great quickness. He doesn’t always make the play, but he’s always a disruption and helps other guys make plays. So I was really happy to have him back out there last week."
The Bulldogs use two running backs. Fluff Bothwell is second on the team with 84 carries for 465 yards and 6 touchdowns. He was injured, but on Wednesday night's SEC Availability Report he was listed as probable. The leading rusher is Davon Booth with 105 attempts for 470 yards and a half dozen touchdowns.
"Yea, ‘Von, again right at 100 yards, did some really good things," Lebby said. "We struggled to have consistency in the run game last week, which was very frustrating, especially obviously in the fourth quarter. That was something for us that we needed to be able to lean on that run game. Situationally, there, and again, struggled at times. ‘Von’s done some great things and has continued to play really well. We're going to need him to play at a really high level this weekend, and we will. We'll be leaning on bond to get that done for us."
The Bulldogs feature two outstanding wide receivers. Brennen Thompson leads the Bulldogs with 35 receptions for 609 yards and 6 touchdowns. Anthony Evans III has pulled in 47 passes for 542 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Saturday and televised on the SEC Network.
Prediction -- Mississippi State 38 - Arkansas 24
