NCAA Football
2025-11-01 - Mississippi State at Arkansas Razorbacks
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : College Football Week 10
Saturday 1st November 2025 - Scheduled 4pm
8pm (British Time)
Preview
There are some big SEC Head Coaching roles already available and one of those is with the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-6) who need to find some SEC upsets if they are going to become Bowl eligible. It is looking increasingly unlikely and the Razorbacks job is not nearly as attractive as posts with the Florida Gators and LSU Tigers, but Interim Head Coach Bobby Petrino is just hoping to guide this group of players to snap a six game losing run.
The Razorbacks are 0-4 in the SEC, but they did win three Conference games last year and the slump is not nearly as long as the one that Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-4) are suffering through.
Mississippi State may only be two wins away from being Bowl eligible, but they have lost all four SEC games and that makes it sixteen Conference defeats in succession.
The Bulldogs are going to be underdogs in all four remaining games this season so they are going to need to find some upsets if they are going to avoid a third season in a row finishing with a losing record. The main focus is simply getting one win on the board in the SEC and showing improvement from 2024, but closes losses to Florida and Texas over the last couple of weeks will have hit hard.
The last team that Mississippi State beat in the SEC was Arkansas in 2023 and that was in this Stadium.
It is going to be a chance for the Offensive Line to get things going having struggled to establish the run in recent games against strong SEC Defensive Lines. However, this week they are facing an Arkansas Defensive Line that has simply not played the run very well at all this season and putting Quarter Back Blake Shapen in third and manageable spots will be a real help.
You cannot be sure that the Bulldogs will take advantage of the Line of Scrimmage issues being faced by the home Defensive unit, but there is a chance. Blake Shapen has also played pretty well without a lot of run support and he has almost 2000 passing yards with 11 Touchdown passes this season, while the Arkansas Defense may be concentrating on trying to stop the run, leaving the Secondary open to be attacked.
One real problem has been the turnstile nature of the Bulldogs Offensive Line when they have tried to give the Quarter Back time to throw the ball. If they are in third and long spots, even this Razorbacks team may be able to flood the backfield and try and force Blake Shapen to throw out of tough situations on the field, which can lead to errors being made and drives to stall.
There are questions about how effective the Mississippi State rush is going to be against a vulnerable Defensive Line, but the Arkansas Offensive Line are going to be very confident they can open things up to pound the rock. This is a team that have flourished on the ground, even when coming up to the SEC level of play, and the Bulldogs Defensive Line have not been much help at containing teams up front.
Quarter Back Taylen Green is very effective at tucking the ball and making plays with his legs, and there is no doubting the character of a player who is pushing through the pain to lead his team.
It should all mean the Razorbacks are able to play from in front of the chains and that in turn opens up big passing lanes with the Bulldogs having to pay more attention to stopping the ground game from gashing them.
This Bulldogs Secondary have been given up plenty of big plays and that is something that Green can exploit, although he has to be careful with the ball after throwing 3 Interceptions in a nine point loss in Week 9. Despite the numbers given up through the air, the Bulldogs have been able to step in front of routes and turn the ball over and that will give them an opportunity to keep this one close.
Head Coach Jeff Lebby may not have helped his team earn a win in the Conference, but the Bulldogs have been a team that have shown plenty of competitive spirit. This makes it hard to oppose them, but Arkansas do look to have a team with a more balance Offensive output and that can see the Razorbacks avoid becoming the first SEC team to lose to the Bulldogs since the 2023 Arkansas team did that right here in this Stadium.
Prediction
Lay the points with the home favourite in this clash at the bottom of the SEC standings.
The Pick :
Arkansas Razorbacks 31-24 Mississippi State
