With Tyler Wilson and the high-power potential of the Arkansas offense coming to town Saturday, the Mississippi State defense has yet another challenge ahead.
The past three weekends, State has faced three of the best quarterbacks in the SEC. The Bulldog defense could not contain Alabama’s A.J. McCarron, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and LSU’s Zach Mettenburger.
Coming into last week’s game against Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University was ranked No. 8 in passing defense, but in order to compete with the top-ranked teams in the SEC, the Dogs need to improve that ranking.
Head coach Dan Mullen said falling to LSU 37-17 was a tough loss because the Dogs played hard but did not execute well enough to beat a top-10 team.
“To be honest, the defense held up good,” he said. “There’s a lot we could point out to have done better, but it’s all about how you adjust, and we have to adjust for Saturday.”
State’s secondary has received throughout the season, with midseason All-American Johnthan Banks leading the way. But two other new faces on the Bulldog defense have stepped up the past three weeks against the top teams in the conference.
Freshman linebacker Benardrick McKinney has accumulated 79 tackles, 3.5 being for a loss, and junior college transfer Denico Autry has recorded 32 tackles, 7.5 for loss.
Against the Aggies, McKinney, who was named SEC freshman of the week earlier this season, led the team and tied his career high with 14 tackles.
McKinney said even though he has started to find a rhythm, he still has room to improve.
“I’m not satisfied. I can do a lot of things to get better. Execute better, make bigger plays and make more plays,” McKinney said. “He (Autry) is improving every game. We go hard to make big plays.”
In the second quarter against LSU, McKinney broke up a third down pass in the end zone, forcing the Tigers to kick a field goal for the second time in the half.  A touchdown would have given the Tigers the lead over the Dogs, but a field goal kept momentum with State and allowed the Dogs to get the ball back.
Autry, who is starting to find his rhythm, had one sack and two tackles for loss at LSU.  He recorded his first forced fumble of his career and had a career-high tying five tackles.
Chris Wilson, State’s defensive coordinator, said Autry has risen to expectations against Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU.
“The thing where you get most disappointed is the passing yards. And when you look at 80 of those coming in on one drive, that’s the thing we have to get corrected and fix immediately going into Arkansas,” Wilson said. “He (Autry) is really beginning to play at a high level, starting from Alabama. He’s really beginning to understand our defense and concepts. He played well three weeks ago, two weeks ago, and he played very well tonight.”
One of the biggest breakdowns for MSU’s defense at LSU was the Tigers’ 40-second drive 71 yards down the field to score a touchdown right before the end of the first half.  During the drive, Mettenberger completed passes of 15, 36 and 20 yards, resulting in a 10-point Tiger lead at the half.
Johnthan Banks said State made mistakes against LSU that allowed the Tigers to make big plays.
“They executed, and we didn’t. (LSU receiver Jarvis) Landry’s a good player, but most of the catches he caught were because we made mistakes,” Banks said. “We have to get back to the drawing board on Monday and fix mistakes to get ready for Arkansas.”
Kickoff for the MSU vs. Arkansas game is set for 11:21 a.m. Saturday and will be televised on the SEC Network.