Here are some thoughts on why Arkansas came up short against Mississippi State.

5 TAKEAWAYS

1. Every team’s luck runs out eventually. The Razorbacks tried to pull off another miracle victory against a team from Mississippi — and got within a chip shot from their fifth consecutive victory. Then disaster struck.

Arkansas trailed 31-14 against one of the SEC’s top QBs, Dak Prescott, but Brandon Allen and the offense woke up. The Razorbacks quarterback marched down the field to score four touchdowns in the second half, but came up short in the best SEC QB matchup of the season.

2. Prevent offense? Nobody in Fayetteville wanted to leave the fate of the game up to PK Cole Hedlund’s foot.

Heading into the game Hedlund was 8-for-12 on field goals this season, and many fans and top Arkansas writers are immediately questioning coach Bret Bielema’s decision to take the ball of out red-hot Allen’s hands.

Allen threw a school-record 7 TD passes, but after moving the Razorbacks within field goal range, Arkansas called three consecutive running plays, clearly trying to drain the clock and play for a short field goal.

3. Mississippi State is a one-man offense, and it works. Though Bulldogs RB Brandon Holloway had himself quite a day (164 all-purpose yards, 1 TD), it was all about Prescott on Saturday.

Prescott threw for more than 500 yards and 5 TDs and finished second on the team in rushing with over 50 yards and 2 TDs.

Both quarterbacks finished with seven TDs, but expect the winner to capture the SEC Offensive Player of the Week award this week.

4. Allen’s stock rising. Allen’s slow start contributed to Arkansas’ 2-4 record, but dominant performance after dominant performance kept hopes alive as neither gave in after a slow start. Now Allen has thrown for 848 passing yards and 13 TDs in two games against Mississippi teams this month and looks to be the hottest quarterback heading into April’s draft.

5. When healthy Arkansas’ receivers may be the best in the SEC. The winning streak ended Saturday, but the hype over the Razorbacks’ receivers continued. Wide receivers Jared Cornelius, Drew Morgan, and Dominique Reed finished with 223 combined receiving yards and 2 TDs.

TE Hunter Henry lead the team in receiving with 7 catches for 123 yards with 2 TDs and backup TE Jeremy Sprinkle added 3 TDs to give Arkansas’ pass catchers seven TDs overall.

The Razorbacks offense may have struggled early with various injuries, but now with everyone back they look as dangerous as anybody.

REPORT CARD

Offense: A. The running was subpar with 73 yards on 29 carries in Alex Collins’ first sub-100 yard rushing game since Oct. 10, but the passing game more than made up for it. Which makes Bielema’s conservative approach on the final three plays all the more puzzling.

Defense: C. The good news is Arkansas forced three turnovers. The bad news is Bulldogs picked up over 600 yards. The D couldn’t make stops in the first half but actually kept Arkansas in the game in the second.

Special teams: C. Dominique Reed had a nice 38-yard return to start the second quarter, but when the Razorbacks needed their special teams to win it, the unit came up short.

Coaching: C. All in all Bielema coached a fine game, aside from abandoning the run early. But when your quarterback breaks the school record for TD passes in a game and over a career on the same night, you’ve got to leave the ball in his hands. The fans are going to question his decision to settle for the field goal for a long time.

GAME BALLS

  • QB Brandon Allen: Allen played what was not only his best game in an Arkansas uniform but what was one of the best performances from an SEC QB all-season. Allen came into the game six TDs from Ryan Mallet’s school record of 62 for a career. He finished the game with 63.
  • DE Deatrich Wise Jr: The rising junior ended up with 1.5 sacks on Saturday and a huge forced fumble on Prescott in the third quarter. The defensive end now has five sacks in the Razorbacks’ past three games.

INJURY REPORT

The big injury was to WR Drew Morgan, who has struggled with health all season. He played through obvious pain throughout the game. It’s hard to imagine he won’t at least be listed on the injury report next week.