FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Beniquez Brown wasn’t supposed to be on the field for the final defensive play Saturday.
The Mississippi State junior linebacker wanted to be on the field, though, so he went to defensive line coach David Turner and made his case. The assistant coach decided to put him in as Arkansas was about to attempt a field goal. With everything that had happened to the defense, Brown was ready.
“I kind of wanted the game to be on my shoulders when it got late,” Brown said. “That’s the part of being a leader, and that’s what I needed to do. I just took it upon myself to go.”
Turner’s decision proved to be the right one because Brown blocked a 29-yard Cole Hedlund field goal attempt with 39 seconds left to help MSU hold on to beat Arkansas 51-50 at Razorback Stadium.
Brown said he had never blocked a field goal at any level, and never had blocked a kick of any kind until he blocked a punt against Southern Mississippi in the season opener.
MSU (8-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) practices blocking field goals every day in practice. MSU blocked one last week in a 31-6 loss to Alabama, but this one came with the game on the line.
MSU coach Dan Mullen joked that one of the biggest talking points before the final field goal was to make sure there MSU had only 11 players on the field. Mullen and his coaching staff challenged the defense on the field goal and felt like there was more pressure on the other sideline.
“The pressure was on their kicker, not on . The pressure’s on him,” Mullen said. “It was just an unbelievable effort.”
Mullen said the game reminded him of his days as an assistant coach at Florida. In 2006, Florida blocked a South Carolina field goal to complete an unbeaten season in SEC play. Florida went on to win the national championship that season.
The Bulldogs believed they could block the kick because they had seen on film where Hedlund’s kicks came out low.
Brown said he was lined up on the left side of the line and broke through the gap as the middle pushed through and created an opening for him to go through. He said he saw the ball and just reached for it with his right arm and hoped it was going to make contact with the ball. He said the ball hit in his palm. During postgame interviews, he said his hand was still sore from the block, but a pain he will gladly take.
Many of Brown’s teammates who were on the sidelines were too scared to watch the field goal attempt.
“I was just looking at (freshman wide receiver) Malik Dear, and I said, ‘Just tell me what happens,’ ” junior wide receiver De’Runnya Wilson said. “Before I knew it, I just heard our sideline get juiced up. It was an exciting feeling.”
Senior quarterback Dak Prescott, who threw for 508 yards and was responsible for seven touchdowns, is usually calm and even keeled. But he couldn’t watch the field goal, either.
“I had my head down,” Prescott said. “Then I said, ‘Forget it,’ and I looked up. As soon as I looked up, I guess it got blocked. That was pretty crazy.”
The blocked field goal proved to be redemption for MSU. After allowing only 213 yards in the first half and playing a key role in a 31-21 halftime lead, MSU’s defense surrendered 266 yards of offense as the Razorbacks (6-5, 4-3) scored 29 points in the second half. MSU saw its halftime lead vanish within minutes after three turnovers. The defense couldn’t prevent Arkansas from taking a 42-31 lead.
Even after the Razorbacks led 50-44 with 5 minutes, 33 seconds remaining, the offense marched down the field and took the lead back.
The defense knew the outcome of the game rested on its shoulders.
“We told the defense we needed a turnover on that last series, but we said, ‘Don’t stop, don’t stop believing, don’t stop fighting for every inch,’ ” Mullen said. “We found a way to go block the kick and get a win. It’s pretty special for this team.”
MSU’s defense kept bending, but it didn’t break on the final drive to force the field goal try.
Arkansas had 479 yards of offense. Quarterback Brandon Allen threw for 406 yards and seven touchdowns.
Still, Brown said the defense kept pushing and knew it would have a chance to win the game if it didn’t quit.
“We pride our defense on how hard we go after someone scores (on us),” Brown said. “That shows you what type of defense you are.”
MSU will play host to Ole Miss (8-3, 5-2) at 6:15 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) at Davis Wade Stadium.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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