Mississippi State escapes Fayetteville, bottom of SEC West with win over Arkansas

Saturday in Fayetteville, Zach Arnett and the Mississippi State Bulldogs were able to escape Arkansas (and the bottom of the SEC West) with a win over the Razorbacks.

While it may have seemed unlikely, Zach Arnett and the Mississippi State Bulldogs were able to get a much-needed win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville. It was a horrendous and uninspiring defensive slugfest in which the Bulldogs seemingly refused to have fun on offense, but Arnett got a conference win.

But thankfully for Miss. State football fans, while Kevin Barbay and the Bulldogs saw their offense sputter on the road, Dan Enos and Arkansas simply could not do much at all on the offensive side of things.

And thus, a horribly offensive combined offensive effort doomed us all to witness a dreadful 7-3 win for Arnett and the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State football: Bulldogs’ defense, Arkansas’ inept offense help secure win for Zach Arnett

While Mike Wright had a few bright moments, the offense simply never got going. There were a few moments in which it seemed like State had some momentum, though the Bulldogs then got hit with a fourth down in plus territory. Rather than do what sound modern football strategy and analytics would suggest a coach should do, Arnett and the Bulldogs took penalties and punted.

But the Bulldogs’ defense held thanks in large part to a completely and totally inept offense on the part of the Razorbacks.

State’s defensive front pressured Arkansas quarterbacks KJ Jefferson all afternoon and the Razorbacks were limited to a meager 103 rushing yards and 97 passing yards.

And of course, State held Arkansas to just three points.

Miscues hurt Mississippi State’s ability to succeed vs. Arkansas

While the defense excelled (and the offense obviously struggled), special teams sat somewhere in the middle. Keelan Crimmins wasn’t exactly booming punts throughout the game and he averaged just 36.9 yards per punt.

On top of that, Kyle Ferrie had an unusual mistake that just kind of fit right in with the rest of the game as he missed a 29-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter that would have given MSU a 10-3 lead over Arkansas.

There was a bit of a bright spot on special teams though when Zavion Thomas was able to dip and dodge and dart his way on a punt return to give the Bulldogs advantageous field position late in the game thanks to his 31-yard return for Mississippi State.

But, well, the Bulldogs weren’t able to capitalize on the good field position. Because of course.

What this win means for the Mississippi State Bulldogs

With this road victory over Arkansas, Zach Arnett’s Mississippi State Bulldogs are now able to sit at 4-3 overall and 1-3 against SEC teams. After a tough three-game losing streak early on this season, State has now won its last two games and that includes this much-needed Southeastern Conference win for the Bulldogs.

It’s too early to say if MSU is back on track and this game potentially revealed that the Bulldogs’ ceiling for this season still sits lower than what MSU fans really want. The inconsistencies on offense really hinder what this Bulldogs’ team can be.

But if Barbay and Arnett can figure out something to do on offense and the Bulldogs are able to build some confidence and momentum, then maybe things turn around and this season gets redeemed.

The Bulldogs are about to face a number of rough foes on the road up ahead as State has to go on the road to Auburn, return to Starkville to welcome Kentucky to town, and then the Bulldogs travel to College Station, Texas to meet up with the Texas A&M Aggies.

This was a big win in terms of discussing the Bulldogs’ bowl hopes and it came at a great time.

But it’s still worth noting that this team’s showing in this game was still underwhelming at times and we’re going to see a more aggressive offense showing up if the Bulldogs want to get some key wins down the stretch.