When Mississippi State lines up to play their final home game of the season against the No. 5-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks Saturday, there will be little doubt in the mind of Sylvester Croom what his team needs to do to win.
Stop the run.
“I think everyone is aware of what they do offensively,” Croom said. “They run the football extremely well.”
That much is an understatement.
The Hogs lead the Southeastern Conference, averaging 240.9 yards per game on the ground.
Sophomore tailback Darren McFadden leads the SEC with 1,219 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
The next highest back?
Mississippi’s Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis with 866 yards and six scores.
McFadden, last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year and a consensus Freshman All-American, needs only 168 yards to break Madre Hill’s 11-year-old school record for most rushing yards in a season.
But Arkansas’s attack is not limited to the stellar McFadden.
Also in the Razorback backfield is sophomore Felix Jones, the SEC’s fourth-best rusher.
Jones has 786 yards on the season but is averaging 7.8 yards per rush.
As if that weren’t enough, Arkansas’s offense is also able to utilize its speed at the wide receiver position with junior Marcus Monk.
Monk is averaging 77.9 yards per game and already has eight touchdown grabs.
With the speed and talent of the Hogs’ skill players, Croom is not surprised that they are the second-most productive offense in the SEC.
“The three 5s-McFadden (No. 5), Jones (No. 25) and Monk (No. 85) are the keys to their offense,” Croom said. “Both their quarterbacks, [Casey] Dick and [Mitch] Mustain execute the offense, but No. 5, 25 and 85 are game-breakers. We have to do a great job on them, and as always, it starts with the guys up front on offense and defense.”
Like most strong running attacks, Arkansas draws its strength from the talent and stability of its offensive line.
The unit returned four starters from last year’s squad and is considered one of the top units in the conference.
“They’re big guys, and they’re physical,” MSU offensive lineman Brian Anderson said. “Plus it doesn’t hurt to have two backs in the backfield like they have. They’re special.”
Having already faced a heavily run-oriented team earlier this season in West Virginia, Croom says the key to staying in the ballgame will be an attacking defense, something the Bulldogs feel they have.
“There is no secret to stopping running backs,” Croom said. “You whip the offensive line, get penetration in the backfield, and when you get a chance to tackle them, you wrap up on them and put them on the ground. It’s that simple.
“The key thing is carrying out your assignments.”
Coming off an upset two weeks ago at Alabama, its easy to assume the Bulldogs-already eliminated from bowl contention-might dwell on their signature win a bit too long and fail to properly prepare for the Razorbacks.
But after falling to the Hogs 44-10 last year in Little Rock, Croom has that problem under control.
“Real simple. I show them the first quarter of last year’s football game, and I think we’ll get back down to earth real fast,” Croom said.
Saturday will be the final home game for the Bulldogs’ senior players, most of which have been at MSU since before Croom was hired.
“We want to thank these seniors this year,” Croom said. “They have done an outstanding job of buying in to the program and what we are trying to get done. Some had previous opportunities not to be here but they chose to stay and have given us outstanding leadership this year.”