Zach Arnett could only exhale after the ugly win over Arkansas, but the Mississippi State coach was happy nonetheless.

Mississippi State survived a trip to Fayetteville with a 7-3 victory as the Bulldogs overcame a late missed field goal and stopped Arkansas in the closing seconds.

“Winning’s hard obviously, both of these teams were obviously fighting for our first SEC victory,” Arnett said on ESPN moments after the game. “Someone’s got to go out and take it, obviously defense made enough plays there, and their defense played great as well, too.”

Arnett explained what made the difference for the State defense.

“I think they’ve got pride,” he said. “If you’re a competitor and were not satisfied with the way we played the first half of the season, we know we’ve got to be a lot better. Can’t give up a whole bunch of points in this league and win a whole bunch of ballgames. So I think they took the bye week, took the criticism to heart, dug into some self-scout, came out and executed a lot better.”

Arnett said he needed to watch the film to evaluate Mike Wright’s performance after the backup QB started in place of the injured Will Rogers. Arnett pointed out the illegal blindside block that wiped out a long touchdown run.

“We’ve got to find a way to create more explosive plays,” he said.