{"id":81763,"date":"2025-10-29T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=81763"},"modified":"2025-10-28T21:20:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:20:49","slug":"bottom-dweller-bowl-arkansas-and-mississippi-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/29\/bottom-dweller-bowl-arkansas-and-mississippi-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottom Dweller Bowl &#8211; Arkansas and Mississippi State\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>No, it is not bowl season yet.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It is week ten of college football. With this, we welcome you to the SEC\u2019s dumpster fire derby. This week, we will find what we at Last Word are calling the \u201cBottom Dweller Bowl\u201d between Arkansas and Mississippi State. Both teams hail from the conference that \u201cJust Means More,\u201d yet this game features two bottom dwellers. In this preview, we will provide a historical look as well as tackle some topics surrounding this game.<\/div>\n<h2>Bottom Dweller Bowl &#8211; Arkansas and Mississippi State<\/h2>\n<h3>Historic Look<\/h3>\n<div>On Saturday, the Bulldogs and Razorbacks will meet for the 36th time, with Arkansas leading 19-14-1, after the 2018 game \u2014a 52-5 win for Mississippi State \u2014was vacated. In games played in Fayetteville, the series is tied at four games apiece. If you delve deeper into this series, you find that two conference foes began meeting in Fayetteville in the 1997 season. Added to this series are contests that took place in the capital city of Little Rock.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In these games, Arkansas has not fared well as it trails 1-6-1 in games that began in 1933 and last occurred in the 2013 season. In the Pittman era, since 2020, Arkansas holds a 3-2 advantage in this series, and we expect the 2025 edition to be much of the same. Will we see magic on Razorback Road in Fayetteville?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53526\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53526\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-53526 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Dawgs Ruined Arkansas Homecoming\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21699290_168400536_lowres.jpg 1813w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53526\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Lonely At The Bottom: Arkansas<\/h3>\n<div>Is this the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/25\/when-does-the-bleeding-stop-for-arkansas\/\" target=\"_self\">week the bleeding stops<\/a>? To be blunt, nothing we have seen on this losing skid tells us yes. The<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/10\/02\/arkansas-football-is-broken-down-what-needs-to-be-fixed\/\" target=\"_self\">\u00a0issues have not been fixed<\/a> as turnovers continue to haunt the Hogs. In the losses, Taylen Green has not been what the Razorbacks needed as he is forcing throws, which are being intercepted, and has missed many open receivers throughout the season.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>What was a bright spot in the Auburn loss, according to Petrino in the postgame, was that the defense for Arkansas played well enough to win. As the offense stalled and gift-wrapped the game for the Tigers, the defense played well. Despite <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/bobby-petrino-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Petrino<\/a> firing the entire staff as his first decision, this unit is slowly coming together, and this week is another opportunity to shine. Arkansas has failed to defeat an \u201cP4\u201d program this season, as they defeated Alabama A&amp;M and Arkansas State in the opening two weeks. Now, the Hogs find themselves tied for last in the SEC.<\/div>\n<h3>Mississippi State<\/h3>\n<div>As the Bulldogs enter Fayetteville, the optics of their program are somewhat better than Arkansas&#8217;s. While both teams are searching for a conference win, Mississippi State comes in hungry. All four of their losses in conference play, by a combined 25 points, have been entertaining until the very end. Just last week, in Starkville, the Bulldogs took Texas to the brink. If not for a meltdown in the fourth quarter that blew a 17-point lead, we might be discussing a win.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/jeff-lebby-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Lebby<\/a>, he continues to preach process, not panic, as he maneuvers his second season as a head coach. The Bulldogs have been battle-tested this season, but cannot seem to get over the win-hurdle. In the game versus Arkansas, the season trends of the Bulldogs failing to close teams out will be tested. A win for Mississippi State would be the fifth of the season and second straight at Arkansas.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In closing, we know one thing for certain: in the end, someone has to win. A game that many describe as a \u201cpick &#8217;em\u201d who will win is anyone&#8217;s guess. On Saturday afternoon, beginning at 3 pm local time, two teams are searching for success together. Yet, they are trending in opposite directions. The \u201cBottom Dweller\u201d Bowl is here, and some eyes will be on it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Main Photo: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No, it is not bowl season yet. It is week ten of college football. With this, we welcome you to the SEC\u2019s dumpster fire derby. This week, we will find what we at Last Word are calling the \u201cBottom Dweller Bowl\u201d between Arkansas and Mississippi State. Both teams hail from the conference that \u201cJust Means [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4207,"featured_media":81768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35588,35585,17,3],"tags":[437,8272,35326],"class_list":["post-81763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-arkansas-razorbacks","category-mississippi-state-bulldogs","category-news","category-sec","tag-bobby-petrino","tag-jeff-lebby","tag-taylen-green"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81769,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81763\/revisions\/81769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}