Mississippi State prepares for Arkansas's new passing attack
With No. 25 Mississippi State still licking their wounds from the 31-6 beat down against Alabama on Saturday, there is no rest on the horizon.
The Bulldogs now prepare for another physical test in the form of the Arkansas Razorbacks, one of the SEC's hottest teams. The Hogs are coming off of consecutive top-25 road wins against Ole Miss and LSU and are riding high with an offense hard to defend.
With a unit that prides itself on a big, physical offensive line and running game, the Razorbacks are beginning to find their way with quarterback Brandon Allen. Arkansas and the Crimson Tide are similar in what they try to do, but coach Dan Mullen thinks the Razorbacks do things a bit differently.
"They have their system and they run it very, very well," Mullen said. "It's a physical game. Personnel-wise, they are going to put big guys on the field. They're going to use multiple tight ends instead of putting a bunch of wide receivers on the field.
"We've got to be stout. We have got to be physical. They move people and we can't get moved. You're just fighting for that territory right there. It's that simple, and you have to be physical and stout. They're using big human beings to try to move you."
To go along with what Allen has been able to do in the four-game win streak for Arkansas, it has one of the SEC's top running backs in Alex Collins, who is a 1,000-yard rusher for the third-straight year. The key has been the physical front five that is bigger than the average line in the NFL.
The balance of the offense has been a surprise to many with Arkansas simply keeping it on the ground in recent seasons.
"I think they have better confidence in scoring points offensively. I think that that's the biggest difference," Mullen said. "They're going to control the ball. They're going to put pressure on you to execute very highly on offense.
"They play really sound defense. They don't give up the big play. They make you work for everything since they're good tacklers.
They're physical up front. One thing we've seen is that their offense is more explosive with putting points up on the board. All of a sudden, they get some points and grab the lead, and it's just tough to comeback because they control the clock. They control the tempo of the game."
It will be MSU's first trip to Fayetteville under Mullen after the previous contests have been played in Little Rock. It will be a different environment for all the players, but something that Mullen welcomes.
"I think for our players it is kind of new, especially when you're playing an SEC West team that you play all the time," Mullen said. "We talked about it before the Missouri game. None of our guys had ever been to Missouri before. I think it's going to become that way with the East teams a lot more, where those almost have a non-conference feel because most guys will only ever play in that stadium once during their whole career.
"For the young guys, I don't think that they'll notice any difference because they haven't been to Arkansas, either Little Rock or Fayetteville, but for older guys, I do think it will be a little different since they're in a new stadium for the first time."
Mullen acknowledged De'Runnya Wilson's neck injury following the ball game by saying it wasn't significant and that Wilson should be OK. After a couple of days, Mullen still believes that the injury wasn't serious.
This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Mississippi State prepares for Arkansas's new passing attack ."