STARKVILLE — Dan Mullen was right.
Following No. 1 Mississippi State’s 45-31 win against Kentucky a week ago, MSU’s sixth-year coach praised his offense but predicted great things for his defense, saying “One of these games, it’s going to be low scoring, and our defense is going to win the game for us.”
That moment came Saturday night when the defense pitched a second-half shutout and stopped Arkansas twice at the goal line in the fourth quarter to preserve a 17-10 win at Davis Wade Stadium.
“I knew that eventually our defense would have to make a play to win a game for us,” Mullen said. “Tonight, we were fortunate to make one more play than they did, and it got us a win against an excellent football team.”
The fourth quarter was full of clutch moments for MSU’s defense. After MSU took its first lead on a 69-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dak Prescott to sophomore wide receiver Fred Ross, MSU kept Arkansas out of the end zone twice despite allowing deep penetration.
The first, a goal-line stand in front of MSU’s student section, saw the Bulldogs stuff tailback Alex Collins on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line to stop a 12-play drive. The second, which ended the game, saw junior cornerback Will Redmond intercept a pass by quarterback Brandon Allen in the end zone to preserve the victory.
“They made stops when we had to have stops,” Mullen said. “In this league, you’re not going to score 40 points every game. Sometimes you have to have your defense stand up and get you through a tough spot.”
MSU faced a game effort from an Arkansas team looking for its first Southeastern Conference win since 2012. For much of the back-and-forth affair, it looked like the Razorbacks would earn that streak-busting win and end MSU’s perfect season. But each time the Razorbacks got close, the MSU defense closed the door.
On the fourth-quarter goal-line stand, MSU safety Justin Cox, a West Point High School product, made touchdown-saving tackles on third and fourth downs to keep Arkansas at bay.
“Our defense was awesome,” said Prescott, who threw for a career-high 331 yards. “They picked us up. It wasn’t our best night, but those guys over there helped us get the job done.”
The Bulldogs held the Razorbacks’ vaunted ground game in check for the most part, limiting the Razorbacks to 163 rushing yards, their second-lowest total of the season.
On MSU’s final defensive possession, sophomore defensive tackle Chris Jones dropped Allen for MSU’s only sack.
“We had to fix some things on defense,” said Jones, referring to Arkansas building a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter. “It was good to adjust and be able to play our football. Coach (Geoff) Collins is a great coach, and he gave us to game plan to execute, and it worked.”
MSU’s spirited defensive effort helped pick up the slack for an offense that slogged through its least productive game of the season. MSU managed 459 yards, 71 below its season average, and was 32 points shy of its scoring average.
MSU’s offense also put the defense in tough situations early, as the Bulldogs committed three turnovers for the second time in three games to help Arkansas build the 10-0 lead. After recovering a muffed punt by freshman punt returner Jamoral Graham in the second quarter, Arkansas scored its only touchdown on tailback Alex Collins’ 1-yard plunge that capped a 20-yard drive.
But with the only Arkansas touchdown of the night coming on a short field, the Bulldogs’ defense stiffened each time the Razorbacks returned to the red zone. Arkansas drove inside MSU’s 20-yard line three more times and came away with no points.
“Those guys were big, man,” said Jones of the Arkansas offensive line, which at an average of 328 pounds ranks as the biggest offensive front in the country. “They are strong, too. It took some great coaching and great plays for us to keep them out.”
The Arkansas defense was good, too. Arkansas forced the three turnovers and held the MSU rushing attack, the second-best in the SEC, to a season-low 128 yards.
“Everyone in the country wants to stop the run first,” said MSU tailback Josh Robinson, who scored MSU’s first touchdown on a 3-yard run midway through the second quarter. “Throughout the season, we are going to face adversity, and that just shows what kind of team we are.”
To Mullen, the slugfest between two fast, physical defenses was the story.
“I thought both offenses moved the ball but both defenses stopped them in the red zone,” Mullen said. “Both defenses have been good in the red zone all year. We made stops when we needed to make stops in the end.”
Outside linebacker Matthew Wells led MSU and turned in a season-high nine tackles, while defensive end Preston Smith, a senior from Stone Mountain, Georgia, added five tackles and one and a half tackles for loss. It was Smith’s seventh-straight game with a tackle for loss.
Twenty-two members of MSU’s defense had multiple tackles on a night Arkansas controlled the ball for nearly 40 minutes (38 minutes, 46 seconds of a possible 60 minutes). And while Jones put Allen down for the Bulldogs’ only sack of the night, the Arkansas quarterback was on the run for much of the night due to 15 quarterback hurries by the defensive front.
“These losses take a toll on you,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the next game against LSU or the next game after that against Ole Miss or our next game against Missouri, it might be next fall, it might be five years from now, but eventually you can look back on these moments and you can champion them.”
With the win, MSU ran its winning streak to 11 and improved to 8-0 for the first time since 1999. Additionally, the Bulldogs ran out to a 5-0 start in SEC play, clinching Mullen’s first winning season in league play.
“It’s another win in the SEC, and we know how hard those are to come by,” Mullen said. “We will take this, enjoy it, and by tomorrow we will be right back to work.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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