Razorbacks report

MSU QB a big focus for Hogs

Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald (7) is tackled by Texas A&M defensive lineman Jayden Peevy, center and Tyrel Dodson (25) during the first half of their NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, in Starkville, Miss. (AP Photo/Jim Lytle)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Slowing Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald is always priority No. 1 for any defense that faces the Bulldogs.

The Arkansas Razorbacks have not had much success in taming the 6-5, 230-pound senior who owns 12 school records, including 19 100-yard rushing games, which is also the SEC record for quarterbacks.

"He's big, he's physical, he's downhill and he's got really good speed as well," University of Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said.

"He makes that offense go," defensive coordinator John Chavis said.

Fitzgerald had one of the best games of his career against Arkansas in 2016, but it came in a loss. He ran for 131 yards and 4 touchdowns, from distances of 58, 18, 2 and 1 yards. He dragged Razorbacks into the end zone on two of those runs. In the same game, he completed 23 of 33 passes for 328 yards and 2 touchdowns.

In last year's 28-21 Mississippi State victory at Razorback Stadium, Fitzgerald rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown and passed for 153 yards and 2 scores. He guided the Bulldogs on a 44-yard touchdown drive, after a failed fourth-and-2 pass by the Hogs, that ended on his 6-yard touchdown pass to Deddrick Thomas with 17 seconds left in the game.

He has not thrown an interception or lost a fumble against the Razorbacks.

"He's big and fast and can run, but we can tackle him," said cornerback Kam Curl, who added that he didn't get a tackle attempt on Fitzgerald as a cornerback last season.

"It's very difficult, especially with his size, the way he can run the ball and he's good at making people miss," defensive tackle Armon Watts said. "One thing we have to do, we have to swarm to the ball."

Linebacker De'Jon Harris said Fitzgerald presents "a lot of problems" but said trying to tackle him last year "wasn't that bad. He is a big guy, an easy target for us to bring down and it was wet that game, too."

Chavis said the Bulldogs' offensive schemes are tough to read.

"What they do with some of the motions and some of the formations, it's hard to break it down on some of the son reads and power-read schemes, when he's keeping, when he's reading, so that makes it more difficult for us to give them some false keys," Chavis said. "It's a really exciting offense to watch if you don't have to play against them."

Injury update

Arkansas defensive tackle Briston Guidry, who scored a touchdown against Mississippi State last year, is doubtful for Saturday due to lingering issues with his surgically repaired knee.

Running backs Rakeem Boyd and Devwah Whaley, who both have ankle issues, are expected to play, as is defensive end Dorian Gerald, who was in a green limited-contact jersey after suffering a toothache earlier in the week. Additionally, receivers Jared Cornelius (ankle), De'Vion Warren (ankle) and linebacker Dee Edwards (arm) are expected to play.

Developmental squad players in quarterback Daulton Hyatt (ankle) and defensive end Courtre' Alexander (shoulder surgery) are still out. Coach Chad Morris said Jack Lindsey has been playing quarterback for the scout team with Hyatt out the last two weeks.

Kam engine

Arkansas Coach Chad Morris touted the Tulsa game earlier this season as being the best game for sophomore safety Kam Curl, who graded out at 100 percent on his assignments in the 23-0 victory for the Razorbacks.

Curl topped that performance in last week's 24-17 loss to No. 7 LSU.

"I thought last week was his best ball game," Morris said. "He was very effective in the run, very aggressive in run support and that was great to see. He's a young guy and the more reps he gets, the better he gets."

Morris also touted the performance of safety Santos Ramirez, whom Curl credits for being a strong mentor.

"Santos has helped me a lot with the safety position and stuff and coach [Ron] Cooper did a really good job, too."

'D' stats

Arkansas Coach Chad Morris touted the improvements on the Arkansas defense from a year ago this week, reciting a series of statistics to point that out at his Monday news conference.

Defensively, we've improved in a lot of areas," Morris said. "We're allowing less points and yards per game than last year. Our sacks are up."

The Razorbacks rank No. 72 in total defense (407.5 yards per game) and are tied for No. 98 in scoring defense (32.7 points per game) heading into the weekend. In those same categories last year, the Razorbacks were No. 101 in total defense (438.3) and No. 114 in scoring defense (36.2). Both scoring averages were impacted by multiple non-offensive touchdowns by their opponents, including five this season and several other short-yardage scores.

Morris also pointed out that the Hogs have 26 sacks now compared to 12 last year, and 64 tackles for loss after having 48 last year. In third-down defense, the Razorbacks are currently allowing a 35 percent conversion rate, compared to 48 percent in 2017.

Hot Sweat

Arkansas tackles Brian Wallace and Colton Jackson will draw one of their toughest assignments of the season on Saturday against Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat.

The 6-6, 245-pound senior, last year's SEC sack leader with 10.5, ranks second in the league (behind Kentucky's Josh Allen) and fourth in the FBS with 9.5 sacks.

"He's a dynamic player and very disruptive," Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said.

Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked about Sweat and 300-pound defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, a Bednarik Award semifinalist, this week.

"They're the No. 1 pass defense [in the SEC] and a lot of that is what they're able to do from a D-line standpoint," Craddock said. "[They're] really good players. They're being mentioned as top draft picks. We have to do a great job of going back to what we do and things we've done throughout the year to try to help us in pass protection. But it's definitely a huge challenge for us, especially going on the road."

Firm fingers

The Mississippi State offense has not lost a fumble this season. The Bulldogs rank No. 1 nationally with just one lost fumble and it occurred last week when punt returner Deddrick Thomas muffed a punt that was recovered by Alabama.

The last lost fumble by a Mississippi State running back came in last year's 28-21 victory at Arkansas, when McTelvin Agim pried the ball free from Nick Gibson and defensive tackle Briston Guidry recovered in the Bulldogs' end zone for a first-quarter touchdown. It was the first of two touchdowns for Guidry who also recovered a fumble in the same end zone against Eastern Illinois this year.

Since then, Mississippi State backs have gone 249 consecutive runs without a lost fumble. All Mississippi State runners have combined to go 453 rushing plays without losing a fumble.

Shutout streaks

Mississippi State's streak of 124 consecutive games without being shut out was the fifth-longest in the SEC until it was snapped in a 24-0 loss at No. 1 Alabama last week. The Bulldogs had last been blanked in a 45-0 loss to Ole Miss in the 2008 Egg Bowl.

Florida continues to lead the SEC by a wide margin with a 381-game scoring streak dating to a 16-0 loss to Auburn on Oct. 29, 1988. Georgia is second with 298 consecutive games without being shut out since a 31-0 loss to Alabama on Sept. 30, 1995.

Arkansas' streak of 63 games with points ranks seventh in the SEC and it dates to a 52-0 loss at Alabama on Oct. 19, 2013.

Alabama is the last team to have shut out half of the SEC schools (Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt), while Georgia holds the distinction for three teams (Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina) and Auburn does for two (Alabama, Florida).

Arkansas is the last team to throw a shutout against Ole Miss (30-0 on Nov. 22, 2014), while Vanderbilt is the last to do it to Kentucky (40-0 on Nov. 3, 2012).

Extra points

• Starkville, Miss., the home of Mississippi State, experienced frigid temperatures this week, though not as cold as Fayetteville, but the forecast for Saturday's 11 a.m. game against the Hogs calls for a high of 65 degrees with a 10 percent chance for rain.

• Mississippi State has allowed 30 plays of 20-plus yards this season, tied for the fifth-fewest among Power 5 teams. By comparison, Arkansas has allowed 43 such plays, one behind Alabama and tied for 53rd among all FBS teams.

Sports on 11/16/2018