Bulldogs spoil Dick's debut, Razorbacks' bowl hopes
Football
Jimmy Carter
Issue date: 11/24/08 Section: Sports
In a back-and-forth contest marked by momentum swings in both directions, it all came down to an Alex Tejada 46-yard field goal with four seconds left in the game.
Tejada's attempt to send the game into overtime sailed wide right as time expired and Mississippi State (4-7, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) held on to win 31-28, ending Arkansas (4-7, 1-6 SEC) bowl chances and spoiling the debut of quarterback Nathan Dick.
The inability to stop the run plagued the Hogs, as Mississippi State junior Anthony Dixon diced the Razorbacks defense for 179 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Mississippi State had entered the game ranked last in the SEC in offense, but Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said his team did not match up favorably with the Bulldogs.
"Dixon is a big back," Petrino said. "He runs very hard and we had problems with him. We did not tackle very well today. We knew coming into the game that we did not match up very well with [Mississippi State] defensively. They are a smash mouth team that likes to run the ball, and we knew it was not going to be a good matchup for us."
The loss spoiled an otherwise successful first start for Dick. The redshirt freshman completed 25-of-43 passes for 333 yards and three touchdown tosses. The 333 yards marks the highest passing total for a Razorback quarterback in a conference game since Clint Stoerner threw for 334 against LSU in 1998.
Dick had the Arkansas offense in sync early, leading the Hogs on a 10-play, 71-yard drive capped by Michael Smith's 15-yard scoring burst. Smith had six carries for 64 yards on the initial drive, including a big 19-yard run on 3rd-and-10 to maintain the drive.
After forcing a Bulldogs punt, it took only two plays for the Hogs to find paydirt. Following a Smith run, Dick found receiver Lucas Miller open deep over the middle and hit him in stride for an 87-yard touchdown. The score was the second longest passing play in school history and prompted Petrino to leave the younger Dick in the game.
Tejada's attempt to send the game into overtime sailed wide right as time expired and Mississippi State (4-7, 2-5 Southeastern Conference) held on to win 31-28, ending Arkansas (4-7, 1-6 SEC) bowl chances and spoiling the debut of quarterback Nathan Dick.
The inability to stop the run plagued the Hogs, as Mississippi State junior Anthony Dixon diced the Razorbacks defense for 179 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Mississippi State had entered the game ranked last in the SEC in offense, but Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said his team did not match up favorably with the Bulldogs.
"Dixon is a big back," Petrino said. "He runs very hard and we had problems with him. We did not tackle very well today. We knew coming into the game that we did not match up very well with [Mississippi State] defensively. They are a smash mouth team that likes to run the ball, and we knew it was not going to be a good matchup for us."
The loss spoiled an otherwise successful first start for Dick. The redshirt freshman completed 25-of-43 passes for 333 yards and three touchdown tosses. The 333 yards marks the highest passing total for a Razorback quarterback in a conference game since Clint Stoerner threw for 334 against LSU in 1998.
Dick had the Arkansas offense in sync early, leading the Hogs on a 10-play, 71-yard drive capped by Michael Smith's 15-yard scoring burst. Smith had six carries for 64 yards on the initial drive, including a big 19-yard run on 3rd-and-10 to maintain the drive.
After forcing a Bulldogs punt, it took only two plays for the Hogs to find paydirt. Following a Smith run, Dick found receiver Lucas Miller open deep over the middle and hit him in stride for an 87-yard touchdown. The score was the second longest passing play in school history and prompted Petrino to leave the younger Dick in the game.
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