STARKVILLE — Mississippi State played far from a perfect football game Saturday against Arkansas.
The Bulldogs committed killer penalties. They threw dangerous passes. They left receivers open and rushing lanes clear.
And it hardly mattered.
No. 23 MSU (5-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) was in control nearly the whole way in a 40-17 win over Arkansas (3-3, 1-3 SEC) at Davis Wade Stadium.
The Bulldogs showed yet again they are capable of performing at less than their best and still handling opposing teams comfortably.
“We did have a consistency that I liked pretty well,” coach Mike Leach said. “We stubbed our toe a few times and didn’t finish a couple of drives, but generally speaking, we were consistent. I do think the more consistent team won this game.”
Albeit against an Arkansas team missing starting quarterback KJ Jefferson, Mississippi State snagged a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter and led by two or more scores the rest of the way.
Quarterback Will Rogers was 31 for 48 passing for 395 yards and three touchdown passes, and running back Dillon Johnson scored twice for the Bulldogs. Johnson became Mississippi State’s first 100-yard rusher in a game under Leach.
Facing a potentially lucrative matchup against a struggling Arkansas secondary, Johnson and Jo’quavious Marks led an MSU run game that totaled 37 attempts for 173 yards instead as the Bulldogs started out by running the ball down the Razorbacks’ throats.
It was the highest rushing yardage total in any game under Leach for the Bulldogs.
“I think the more that we can run the ball and the more we can really get extra guys in the box, the more it’s going to open up a pass lane or something like that,” Rogers said. “That’s obvious.”
Arkansas still racked up yardage on the ground, totaling well over 200 rushing yards, but much of the damage proved not to matter.
Mississippi State forced three turnovers on downs, two of which came inside the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line and all of which came in MSU territory.
Rogers said he was impressed by MSU’s ferocity on defense as well as defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s scheme.
“You can’t just get into the red zone and think, ‘Oh, we’re about to run it in or something like that,’” Rogers said. “If you’ve got 75 yards to go, you’d better move 75, not 74 1/2.”
The Bulldogs’ biggest stop came at the 1-yard line in the third quarter, capping an Arkansas drive that seemed bound for pay dirt with first-and-goal at the 2-yard line.
But MSU stopped two run plays in their tracks, forced an incompletion and stuffed Rashod Dubinion short of the end zone on fourth down.
The goal-line stand fully swung momentum back in the Bulldogs’ favor after Arkansas made a surge late in the first half.
The Razorbacks sailed 71 yards in two plays after a failed fourth-down attempt for Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs missed a 40-yard field goal before the half.
Arkansas received the opening kickoff but misplayed the squib pick, pinning itself at the 1-yard line.
The Hogs quickly went three and out, and MSU cashed in with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Rogers to Caleb Ducking.
Rogers set the SEC career record for completions with his seventh completed pass of the game, and he wasn’t close to done.
Even a deflected pass in the end zone couldn’t stop a 5-yard touchdown toss to Jaden Walley in the first quarter, and Rogers connected with Austin Williams in the front corner of the end zone for a 10-yard score in the second.
Leach’s opinion on his quarterback’s nearly flawless performance hinted at the high expectations the Bulldogs coach has for the junior signal-caller.
“I thought Will did a good job managing the game,” Leach said.
A productive run game helped. Johnson got Mississippi State started with a 1-yard touchdown run on the Bulldogs’ opening drive, and he added a 30-yard score late in the third quarter. Marks had a 2-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth.
Johnson’s 100 yards came on just 17 carries, and he would have gone well past the century mark had Simeon Price and J.J. Jernighan not taken the snaps with Mississippi State up big late in the game.
By that point, the Bulldogs could relax. They easily finished off the Razorbacks, notching just their fifth start of 5-1 or better in the past 40 years.
MSU can make its record 6-1 — something the Bulldogs have done just four times since 1986 — with a win over Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday in Lexington.
“It’s nice that we’ll have some momentum going into games,” linebacker Jett Johnson said. “Obviously, we all know it’s a very hard league. If you take breaks, you’ll get exposed and you’ll get beat very easily. We have to take each week and each moment with great preparation and just know that we’re going into a big road environment and it’s going to be a huge challenge.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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