Mississippi State University football came out on top 40-17 against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks for their third consecutive win Saturday.
Coming off an impressive victory over the Texas A&M University Aggies, the Bulldogs welcomed the Razorbacks to Davis Wade Stadium for an SEC showdown.
The main narrative surrounding the game between the Bulldogs and Razorbacks all week was whether Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson would take the field come kickoff. Jefferson did not play, and Cade Fortin got the start. Fortin did not last long, as Malik Hornsby came into the game and gave the Bulldog defense some trouble.
After Saturday’s win over the Hogs, Bulldogs’ head coach Mike Leach talked about the challenge Hornsby presented.
“He might be the fastest quarterback in the conference,” Leach said. “He’s kind of hard to tackle. I thought we could have got to him a little more, but we did some good things.”
Hornsby provided the Razorbacks with some explosive plays, but the Bulldog defense came up big when they needed to. They stopped Arkansas from punching it in from the one-yard line on fourth and goal early in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs also came away with two interceptions, courtesy of Jackie Matthews and Emmanuel Forbes. Forbes came away with his third interception in two games. 
In the postgame presser, Leach talked about Forbes’ talent.
“He’s explosive, really quick first step, which I think is key. He’s a longer target than you’d think,” Leach said. “If you do kind of a highlight film of some of them that he’s caught, even going through practice, some of them are quite remarkable catches. He can catch some balls that other people can’t catch, especially at that position.”
The defense clearly came to play, but Will Rogers and the offense put on a show. Coming into the game, Arkansas led the SEC in sacks but did not get to Rogers once all game. Rogers picked apart the Arkansas secondary for 395 yards and three touchdowns. The offense exploded for 40 points and went 4-4 in the red zone. 
Rogers didn’t do it all on his own, as the ground game picked up 173 yards. Dillon Johnson and Jo’quavious Marks combined for nearly 300 all-purpose yards. 
Rogers set the SEC completions record in the fourth quarter and continues his impressive season. Despite the record, Rogers’ most impressive feat today might be the two touchdowns he threw while scrambling to his left. He found Jaden Walley for a five-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Austin Williams at the front pylon in the second quarter for a ten-yard score. 
After an impressive performance against the Razorbacks, Rogers said what the record meant to him.
“In the game, I wasn’t thinking about it at all until it came up on the big screen. For it to come up on the big screen and for it to happen at home was pretty cool,” Rogers said. “For it to happen at home in Davis Wade, where I’ve been watching games since second grade, is pretty cool.” 
MSU will head on the road to Lexington next week to play the No. 13 University of Kentucky Wildcats. The game will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on the SEC Network.