HawgBeat's most interesting stats from Arkansas' upset win
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Here are HawgBeat’s favorite and most interesting stats from Arkansas’ 21-14 upset win at No. 16 Mississippi State…
The Streak is Over
Entering Saturday’s game, Arkansas had lost its last 10 games and was riding a 20-game SEC losing streak. Both of those are now over.
The Razorbacks hadn’t won a conference game since beating Ole Miss with the largest comeback in school history on Oct. 28, 2017.
~It was the sixth-longest SEC losing streak in the conference’s history, finishing one game shy of tying the record for the longest by a current SEC West team…held by Mississippi State (21 games, 1965-70).
~It is tied for the longest overall losing streak in school history, matching the 10-game stretch spanning the final nine games of 2013 and the 2014 opener.
~Arkansas avoided moving into a tie with Rutgers (Big Ten) for the longest active conference losing streak in the FBS and moving into a tie with Old Dominion for the second-longest overall losing streak in the FBS.
Pulling Off an Upset
Not only did Arkansas snap its long losing streaks, but it did so as a heavy underdog against a top-25 foe in No. 16 Mississippi State.
The Razorbacks closed as a 17-point underdog in most sports books. According to HawgBeat’s database that goes back through the 1997 season, that is the second-largest point spread against Arkansas in a game it won straight up.
The only larger spread they overcame in a victory happened in 1997, when the Razorbacks traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., as 18-point underdogs and beat No. 11 Alabama 17-16 on a game-winning touchdown pass from Clint Stoerner to Anthony Eubanks.
Arkansas had also lost a school-record 15 games to AP top-25 teams before snapping that streak Saturday. Its last win over a ranked opponent was on Nov. 5, 2016, when it knocked off No. 10 Florida 31-10 in Fayetteville.
It was the first time the Razorbacks had beaten a top-25 team on the road since winning three straight such games over the 2015-16 seasons: at No. 18 Ole Miss (the Henry Heave game) and No. 9 LSU in back-to-back weeks in 2015 and at No. 15 TCU early in 2016.
Brooks Ends Pix-Six Drought
On the game’s first possession, Greg Brooks Jr. jumped in front of a K.J. Costello pass and returned it 69 yards to the house.
It was the Razorbacks’ first pick-six since Santos Ramirez had one against No. 10 Florida in 2016, snapping a 41-game drought. That was the seventh-longest streak without an interception returned for a touchdown in the FBS at kickoff.
Brooks, a Mississippi State commit before flipping to Arkansas as a recruit, now has two interceptions in a span of three games. The first of his career came in last year’s finale against Missouri.
Trio of Picks
The Razorbacks ended up making three interceptions against the Bulldogs, with Joe Foucha coming down with the other two.
It was the first time an Arkansas player has picked off multiple passes in the same game since linebacker Dre Greenlaw had two against Texas A&M in 2018. The last time a defensive back accomplished the feat was against Missouri at the end of the 2017 season, when Henre’ Toliver made two. A safety hadn’t done it since 2011, when Tramain Thomas intercepted Auburn twice.
Arkansas now has four interceptions through two games, doubling its total in SEC games last season.
20-Tackle Night
In addition to the three interceptions, the Razorbacks got excellent contributions from their linebackers, highlighted by Bumper Pool’s career-high 20 tackles.
That is tied for the 10th-most tackles in a single game in UA history and the most since Jerry Franklin had 20 at Mississippi State in 2010.
The other 13 instances of an Arkansas player making at least 20 tackles occurred in 2002 or earlier.
Another 100-Yard Receiver
Wide receiver De’Vion Warren turned in a career performance against the Bulldogs, hauling in four passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.
In his first three years at Arkansas, the senior was primarily used as a kickoff returner and actually had more carries on offense (9) than receptions (8). Entering the season, he had only 38 career receiving yards. Through two games this year, though, he has five catches for 128 yards.
It is the second straight game the Razorbacks have had a 100-yard receiver, as Treylon Burks had 102 yards last week against Georgia. That matches the Razorbacks’ total from the last two years combined (Mike Woods vs. San Jose State in 2019 and Jordan Jones vs. Eastern Illinois in 2018).
The last time Arkansas had a 100-yard receiver in back-to-back games came at the end of the 2016 season, when Keon Hatcher had 106 yards in the finale at Missouri and 105 yards against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
The Razorbacks hadn’t had consecutive 100-yard receiving games against SEC foes by different players since 2012, when Jonathan Williams had 150 against Kentucky and Cobi Hamilton had 146 against Ole Miss.
Boyd Moves Up
An injury suffered early in the second quarter prevented him from playing the rest of the game, but Rakeem Boyd still manage to jump an Arkansas legend on the school’s all-time rushing list.
With 28 yards on eight carries, the senior now has 1,916 career rushing yards. That moved him past Jerry Eckwood (1,895 yards) and into 21st place in UA history.
Boyd needs 84 more yards to become the 18th Arkansas player to hit the 2,000-yard mark. That would also move him past Ike Forte (1,957), Barry Foster (1,977) and Gary Anderson (1,999).