Bulldogs get defensive in 7-3 victory at Arkansas

Mississippi State quarterback Mike Wright has won games in the SEC before. But on Saturday at Arkansas, Wright got his first start as a Bulldog and made enough plays to help lead State to a much-needed 7-3 victory, the team’s first SEC win of the season.

With starting quarterback Will Rogers sidelined with a shoulder injury, it was Wright taking charge of the offense. His day started off rough with an interception on the team’s second play from scrimmage. But it got a bit better from there.

Wright finished the day 8 of 12 passing for 85 yards and a scoring toss to Jo’quavious Marks. He also led the team in rushing with 11 carries for 60 yards.

“Whenever you have to go on the road in the SEC, that is one of the hardest things you can ever do,” mentioned Wright. “Whenever you got to go into somebody else’s house in a hostile environment and come in and steal a win, that’s a big step for our program.”

Before he took his first snap as a State starter, Wright gave the team a pregame speech and did his best to boost the confidence of a team that lost its first three SEC outings.

“As a quarterback you want to give as much confidence as you can to the team, especially before you go out there,” Wright added. “Basically, to the team and that message was go out there and play football. Go out there and be you. The emphasis this week was focusing on ourselves. Focus on your job, focus on your assignment and by any means necessary, go out there and get a win.

“That was the basic theme (of my pregame speech). There were some cuss words here and there. But since this is on camera and my momma is watching, I want say them here.”

For head coach Zach Arnett, he credited Wright for doing enough to get the victory. But Arnett also saw a lot of opportunities left on the table.

“He managed the game well enough,” Arnett said of Wright. “We have to find a way to create some more plays in the pass game, converts some third downs and keep the ball going down the field. This game is decided on points. It’s why you don’t see many 7-3 games any more. We know we’ll have to play better than this to continue to win games. But winning is always good.”

Of course, the defense stole most of the headlines in Fayetteville, Ark. The Bulldogs got after Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson and held the Hogs to 200 yards of total offense.

Senior linebacker Bookie Watson led that defensive attack with 14 tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss. Senior safety Shawn Preston collected his third interception of the season and also forced a fumble on a crucial fourth-down play in the second half.

One key to the defensive showing, said Arnett, was the bye week.

“We really didn’t do anything preparation wise,” said Arnett. “We’ve got a lot of competitors on that side of the ball in our program. We’ve seen the stats, the results. They’re not up to our satisfaction. They went to work in the bye week. That’s what you do. There’s no magic formula.

“You put in the work and take a critical eye in areas where you failed to perform and you go about correcting them. I give all the credit to those guys for being man enough to be coached in the bye week. Now, they see the fruits of their labor.”

The bye week also helped several defensive players get some needed rest, as well, according to Arnett.

“We were not able to play our normal defense right before the bye week because of attrition,” Arnett added. “To get them back healthy during the bye week, guys like (Jaden) Crumedy and (Nathan) Pickering, they were playing more snaps than you’d like big inside guys to play. They came out and executed. We knew we’d have to be ready for a physical game and stop the run.”

Up next and now sitting at 4-3 overall, the Bulldogs remain on the road with a trip to Auburn next Saturday. Building on this win is just as important along with closing out October with momentum.

“October has to be a big month for our program,” noted Arnett. “We have three games in the month. We’re 2-0 right now and have set ourselves up to go 3-0. We have every opportunity ahead of us as a program.”