Ad Disclosure
Zach Arnett previews Mississippi State’s Week 2 bout against Arizona
Published:
Zach Arnett’s first season as head coach of Mississippi State is off to a good start.
Arnett led the Bulldogs to a dominant 48-7 win over Southeast Louisiana last week and is now looking for a big win over Arizona this Saturday.
Ahead of the matchup, Arnett previewed Arizona during the SEC coaches teleconference.
“Facing an incredibly talented Arizona team, Year 3 in their system,” Arnett said Wednesday. “Offensively, kind of veteran, got a lot of playmakers. Returning guys, returning quarterback, really deep group of running backs. They did a really nice job in the transfer portal on both sides of the ball.”
Arizona is also coming off a big win over Northern Arizona, where the Wildcats got the chance to show off their explosive offense for the first time this season.
“They played a really physical fast game last week vs. NAU and kind of dominated,” Arnett said. “I saw a stat that in terms of 1st and 10 play calling they’re the most efficient team in the country last year and through the first week of this year in terms of efficiency, staying ahead of the chains offensively.”
For Mississippi State, the game against Arizona will be a test of the Bulldogs’ defense. Arnett saw room for improvement last week, so this week will be a good barometer for where they are at.
“If anything we need to do a better job of coming up and tackling in run support when we had those opportunities last game,” Arnett said. “But we’re going to know a lot more about our secondary after this one because Jayden de Laura the quarterback is phenomenal. He has a very strong arm, can make all the throws on the field. Not too many times do you see guys throw a wide field go or fade ball out there to No. 1 and I’ve seen him complete quite a few of them on last year’s tape.”
The Bulldogs and Wildcats kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
