Arkansas at Mississippi State Odds, Picks

Not a heck of a lot at stake in an SEC game between Arkansas and Mississippi State on Saturday in all honesty. They are part of a three-way tie for last in the SEC West with Ole Miss. The Razorbacks already are bowl eligible, while MSU must win its final two games for postseason football. The Bulldogs are slight favorites in online college football betting.

Arkansas at Mississippi State Odds, Betting Pick & TV Info

From the desk of @BretBielema ⤵️https://t.co/pAa9HjLTRS pic.twitter.com/VYq6IOpbpD
— Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) November 14, 2016

When: Saturday, Nov. 19, 7 PM ET Where: Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville TV: ESPNU Opening NCAA Football Lines: MSU -2 (60)

Why Bet on Arkansas?

The Razorbacks (6-4) were dominated at home by No. 24 LSU 38-10 last week. LSU scored 17 more points and totaled 309 rushing yards in the second half alone. Hogs running back Rawleigh Williams III finished the game with 49 yards on 13 carries. Early in the second half, Williams crossed the 1,000-yard threshold for the year, marking his first 1,000-yard season in his career. Williams now has 1,038 yards through 10 games and it gives head coach Bret Bielema a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last 11 seasons. QB Austin Allen was 15-for- 31 passing for 210 yards and one touchdown. He found eight different receivers in the game, tying for the second-largest total in a game this year. He now has 20 touchdown passes this season, tying his older brother Brandon Allen for seventh most touchdown passes in a season in program history. No team in the country is allowing more than Arkansas’ 6.34 yards per carry. Only 2015 Idaho and Eastern Michigan, 2013 Nevada and New Mexico State, and 2009 Eastern Michigan have produced marks that bad over the course of a season. The best running teams in the SEC have beaten Arkansas while the worst ones have fallen. Mississippi State is in the top half. Arkansas has SEC losses to Texas A&M, Alabama, Auburn and LSU. Those teams are fifth, second, first and fourth in the SEC in rushing. Bielema has never beaten Mississippi State since he took over at Arkansas in 2013. Last year, Mississippi State jumped ahead 31-14 in the second quarter. Arkansas answered leading 42-31 at the end of the third quarter. With 3:05 remaining MSU scored its final touchdown to go up 51-50. But the Hogs had one final opportunity, a 29-yard field goal with 39 seconds remaining. Beniquez Brown blocked the kick.

Why Bet on Mississippi State?

The Bulldogs (4-6) were rolled 51-3 last week by No. 1 Alabama. The Crimson Tide jumped out to a quick start, scoring on their first two drives and maintaining control of the game for the duration of play. Despite some struggles on the offensive end, senior wide receiver Fred Ross’s 23 yards helped him break Chad Bumphis’ record for most career receiving yards in MSU history. Ross now has 2,275 to move past the record set by Bumphis in 2012 (2270). Ross has now shattered four MSU wide-receiving records in as many weeks (Catches, 181; Consecutive games with a catch, 32; 100-yard receiving games, 9). Sophomore quarterback Nick Fitzgerald finished 10-of- 33 for 145 yards against a stout Alabama defense. Donald Gray hauled in three receptions for 76 yards. It was Dan Mullen’s 100th as head coach of the Bulldogs, joining Nick Saban as the only current coaches in the SEC to reach the century mark. Mullen and Jackie Sherrill are the only coaches in MSU history to reach this milestone. Fitzgerald is MSU’s leading rusher and passer. He is fifth in the SEC in total offense, putting up 270.4 ypg. He’s accounted for 24 (16 pass, 8 rush) of MSU’s 33 offensive TDs this season (72.7%). He’s fourth nationally in 100-yard rushing games by a QB this season (5; Lamar Jackson, 7). That mark is tied for the MSU single-season QB record held by Don Smith (1986). He is 132 yards shy of tying Dak Prescott’s MSU single-season record for rushing yards by a QB. Fitzgerald’s 2,704 yards of total offense is sixth in MSU single-season annals. DE A.J. Jefferson is ninth in the SEC in tackles for loss (10.5). He has recorded 35 career tackles for loss, which is tied for third in MSU history with Glen Collins (1978-81) and Johnie Cooks (1977-81). Arkansas leads the all-time series, 15-10- 1, but State has won the last four meetings, including three in a row in the final seconds.