FAYETTEVILLE — About the only good thing that came out of Arkansas’ 38-10 home loss to LSU last Saturday was the injury report.
“We are pretty healthy,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said Wednesday. “The good part about Saturday was the only thing that got bruised was our heart. We’ll come back and play hard on Saturday and get a chance to get going.”
The Razorbacks (6-4, 2-4 SEC) will visit Mississippi State (4-6, 2-4) Saturday at 6 p.m. in Starkville, Miss.
Like Arkansas, Mississippi State is coming off a big loss, 51-3 to No. 1 Alabama last week.
The Bulldogs had perhaps their best game of the season two weeks ago when they upset then-No. 4 Texas A&M 35-28 at home.
“We are excited about the opportunity,” Bielema said. “We have two more left in conference play. We get a chance to play Mississippi State, a team that is playing well. Obviously they had a tough one on Saturday, but against Alabama a lot of people have.”
Bielema said Mississippi State has a unique homefield advantage because of the cowbells that fans ring between plays.
“I thought it was awesome years ago to see the whole cowbell thing,” Bielema said. “ The environment they have there is pretty awesome. One of the great things in this league is you see so many SEC traditions. It is a great environment and it really gets you excited to play in this league.”
Mississippi State has a four-game win streak in the series with Arkansas, including a 3-0 record against Bielema-coached teams.
But all three games have been close with the Bulldogs winning 24-17 in overtime in 2013, 17-10 in 2014 and 51-50 last year.
“I would also say the last three years the Mississippi State team we’ve lost to has been a really good team,” Bielema said. “We just haven’t been able to do it. It’s been close games.
“I knew (Mississippi State coach) Dan (Mullen) just a little bit before I came into the league and I respect him an admire his team and the way they play. Off the field I think he is awesome as well.
“As far as on the field, we probably have some crossover in recruiting. I don’t know if we go head to head with Mississippi State that much. I think the players like it. It’s just another SEC West game but they respect it.
“It will be interesting. It’s their last home game and Senior Day and all going into it. I think each game has been a game unto itself. They’ve all been close. Unfortunately we haven’t won so I would like to get that chip on our side once.”
The Bulldogs are led by quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, who has passed for 1,853 yards and rushed for 854 more, despite 110 yards subtracted for sacks. Fitzgerald has accounted for 34 touchdowns.
“They list him at 6-5, 230 and he looks every bit of that,” Bielema said. “When you are looking eye to eye with D-linemen thats usually a good indicator that you have got good height. The linebackers and corners have struggled to get him down at times.
“I think he’s a very confident player. He’s been in every game. Dan has kind of put him in and out of the lineup but when he’s playing well he throws an accurate ball. He seems to have a good command of what they are asking him to do and it looks like the players are responding well to him.”
Senior linebacker Richie Brown (6-2, 240) - who leads the team with 82 tackles - is the star on defense for Mississippi State.
“Their quarterback is playing well, their defense is active and their middle linebacker is as good as there is,” Bielema said.
“They do a lot of really good things and Dan does a great job and year after year it is a tough place to play with the cowbells and everything going on.”
With a win, Arkansas would equal its win total from the 2015 regular season.
“We have got to get back on track, try to get ourselves an opportunity to get one in the win column," Bielema said.