History of MSU vs. Arkansas
Before Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992, the two teams had only played twice. Both games were played in Memphis, Tennessee and won by Mississippi State. Then in ’92 MSU hosted the Hogs and beat them 10-3. A trip to Little Rock in ’93 ended in a tie, and State won the 1994 game 17-7. So it was a nice start to the series for MSU, going 4-0-1 in the first five games.
From there things got dicey. State lost the return trip to Little Rock, and then lost again in MSU’s first ever overtime game in ’96. 1997 was the first time MSU had ever played in Fayetteville, Arkansas; the Hogs won 17-7.
In 1998, Arkansas started the year 8-0 behind first year head coach Houston Nutt. They played at #12 (and eventual national champion) Tennessee and lost in what became known as the Clint Stoerner fumble game. Despite the loss they moved up from #10 to #9 in the polls and could still clinch the SEC West with a victory. But the Dawgs won 22-21 in a thriller that ended on a three-minute drive where freshman quarterback Wayne Madkin hit Kelvin Love to convert on a 3rd & 18 and then a few plays later he hit Kevin Cooper to convert on 4th & 15 before Brian Hazelwood booted a 27 yard field goal through the uprights…which were soon taken down by the students and a couple players. That win gave State the tiebreaker to win the SEC West as both teams finished 6-2.
In 1999, Arkansas returned the favor to MSU. State started the year 8-0 and made it all the way up to #8 in the polls. A loss at #11 (and eventual SEC champion) Alabama dropped
State to #12 as they went to Little Rock to face #22 Arkansas. The Hogs won a close, low-scoring game 14-9. From there UPig won the next 8 games in this series. Four of them were decided by a touchdown or less including 2004’s game in which the referee stood over the ball while State was trying to hurry-up near the goal line and time ran out; MSU lost 24-21.
In Sylvester Croom’s last year as head coach and Bobby Petrino’s first (2008) MSU broke the streak with a 31-28 win. In 2009, the series returned to Little Rock for the first time since ’99, and Arkansas won 42-21. In 2010, both teams were ranked coming in for the first time since ’99 and the game exceeded expectations as it went into overtime, with the Razorbacks winning 38-31.
After such a good start to the series, MSU has now let their all-time record vs. Arkansas slip to 6-14-1. This year’s game will be played in Little Rock, Arkansas where State is 0-3-1 vs. the Hogs. MSU has never beaten the Razorbacks in the state of Arkansas.
In years past, when this game was played in Starkville you wondered how many people would show up since rifle season started that morning. When the game was in Arkansas, it meant you’d have to listen on the radio. But now all SEC home games are televised, and that will help revive this game as it was radio-only 12 out of 17 times and 8 straight before the current SEC television contract in ’09. In a complete one-eighty, it is on CBS this year.