Arkansas heads to Mississippi State Saturday for an 11:21am kickoff with their bowl hopes hanging in the balance. The Hogs need to win both their remaining games just to make the postseason. Mississippi State opens up as a 6.5 point favorite, but the Arkansas passing game has had a lot of success against the Bulldogs in the recent past. Plus Miss. St. has been blown out in the pas three games with suspect secondary play.
The offense spoke to the media after practice Tuesday about that:
Offensive Coordinator Paul Petrino:
- Knile Davis looked better today than last week, possibility to play on Saturday.
- Miss St. has good talented corners but they are also aggressive so they will give up a big play now and then. If the receivers are ready to play, they will beat the corners.
- Miss St. always does something new on defense against Arkansas, they will try to prepare for any surprises.
- The running game has not been what they have expected, although they have improved from the start of the year, with injuries to key players the ground game has lacked.
Center Travis Swanson:
- The defensive line of Miss St. is very talented. It will be a good matchup.
- The attitude of the team is to just win this next game. Don't worry about bowl possibility.
- Dennis Johnson has helped improve the run game a lot with his work ethic and skill.
Wide Receiver Cobi Hamilton:
- The secondary has given up big plays and they look to find the holes and capitalize.
- Even with success against Miss St. in the past, means no guarantee for a win. They need to play Arkansas football and make the right critical decisions in critical moments.
- They are only thinking about this week. They know they have two games guaranteed and they want to play to their fullest.
Tight End Alex Voelzke:
- The team is playing for each other and for their pride. Not the season they had hoped but as a family they will stick together.