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Mississippi State football: 7 worrisome stats from win vs. Arkansas

By Ethan Lee

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - OCTOBER 21: Mike Wright #14 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs runs the ball in the second half and avoids the tackle of Alfahiym Walcott #13 of the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 21, 2023 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Bulldogs defeated the Razorbacks 7-3. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS - OCTOBER 21: Mike Wright #14 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs runs the ball in the second half and avoids the tackle of Alfahiym Walcott #13 of the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 21, 2023 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Bulldogs defeated the Razorbacks 7-3. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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End Zone marker during a game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS – OCTOBER 21: End Zone marker during a game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on October 21, 2023 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Bulldogs defeated the Razorbacks 7-3. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

36.9 – Keelan Crimmins’ punting average

This is admittedly a bit nitpicky. This isn’t particularly bad. But it’s not great.

Rather than being aggressive in some key fourth down opportunities, Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Zach Arnett seemed more focused on trying to protect his defense and punt the ball away (that’s mostly something for another post at another time).

But it’s not like the Bulldogs were really doing well on punting against the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

Punter Keelan Crimmins has been a pretty reliable punter all throughout the season up to this point for the Mississippi State football team. But against Arkansas, Crimmins averaged under 37 yards on eight punts against the Razorbacks (side note, again, that’s way too many punts for the Bulldogs).

If Arnett and the Bulldogs are intent on playing a field position battle (there are better ways to try and win a game, by the way), then they’re going to need more effective punting. Now, that’s not inherently all on Crimmins. He did fine and there’s nothing that he did that hindered the Bulldogs’ ability to get a win against Arkansas.

But if this is the sort of game the Bulldogs really want to play, they will need for Crimmins to regularly be closer to (or better than) his yearly average of 41.25 yards per punt.

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