October 3, 2020 Week 5 · Regular Season Belt changed hands

Arkansas takes the belt, 21–14, on the road at Mississippi State.

Home · Defending Holder

Mississippi StateAP No. 16 14

Away · New Holder

Arkansas 21

AP poll, week 5: Arkansas unranked at Mississippi State No. 16 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Arkansas took the belt here, ending Mississippi State’s run of 7 days and 0 defenses (reign #309) and starting reign #310. It lasted 7 days and 0 defenses, until Auburn took it on October 10, 2020.

For Arkansas this was its 14th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 3 times before — and it took it back here.

This is the only time Arkansas and Mississippi State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Arkansas seized the College Football Belt from Mississippi State with a 21-14 victory in Starkville, overcoming an early deficit through resilient play and opportunistic defense. Mississippi State struck first when Greg Brooks Jr. returned an interception for a touchdown just 15 seconds into the game, then added a touchdown pass to JaVonta Payton to take an early lead. However, Arkansas clawed back behind Feleipe Franks' efficient passing, with De'Vion Warren hauling in a 19-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter and Hudson Henry scoring on a 12-yard reception in the third quarter to establish control. Mississippi State cut the lead to seven with a late touchdown run by Dillon Johnson, but Arkansas' defense forced a critical interception from K.J. Costello in the fourth quarter that sealed the Razorbacks' championship claim.

Greg Brooks Jr.'s 69-yard pick-six return for a touchdown gave Mississippi State an early 7-0 lead
De'Vion Warren's 19-yard touchdown reception in Q2 tied the game and shifted momentum to Arkansas
Hudson Henry's 12-yard touchdown reception in Q3 put Arkansas ahead for good at 21-7
Joe Foucha's interception of K.J. Costello in Q4 sealed the belt for Arkansas in the final quarter

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Mississippi StateArkansas

Total yards400275

Rushing yards8763

Passing yards313212

First downs2417

3rd down conv.6/175/14

Turnovers42

Penalties–yards4–255–40

Time of possession36:2023:40

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 15:00	Mississippi State	+69 yd	K.J. Costello pass intercepted for a TD Greg Brooks Jr. return for 69 yds for a TD (A.J. Reed KICK)
Q1 15:00	Arkansas	+26 yd	Vito Calvaruso kickoff for 64 yds , JaVonta Payton return for 26 yds to the MisSt 27
Q1 3:59	Mississippi State	+17 yd	K.J. Costello pass complete to JaVonta Payton for 17 yds for a TD (Brandon Ruiz KICK)
Q1 2:58	Mississippi State	+34 yd	K.J. Costello pass complete to Osirus Mitchell for 34 yds to the Ark 45 for a 1ST down
Q2 15:00	Arkansas	-1 yd	KJ Jefferson run for a loss of 1 yard to the MisSt 3 KJ Jefferson fumbled, forced by Marquiss Spencer, recovered by MisSt Londyn Craft
Q2 15:00	Arkansas	+52 yd	Feleipe Franks pass complete to De'Vion Warren for 52 yds to the MisSt 9 for a 1ST down
Q2 10:25	Mississippi State	+45 yd	Tucker Day punt for 45 yds , Nathan Parodi returns for a loss of 1 yard to the Ark 31
Q2 5:27	Arkansas	+19 yd	Feleipe Franks pass complete to De'Vion Warren for 19 yds for a TD (A.J. Reed KICK)
Q2 8:00	Arkansas	+25 yd	Feleipe Franks pass complete to Mike Woods for 10 yds to the MisSt 39 for a 1ST down MISSISSIPPI ST Penalty, face mask (15 yards) (Marcus Murphy) to the MisSt 46 for a 1ST down
Q2 1:28	Mississippi State	+0 yd	K.J. Costello pass intercepted Joe Foucha return for no gain to the Ark 46 MISSISSIPPI ST Penalty, Defensive holding ( Yards) declined
Q3 15:00	Arkansas	+20 yd	Feleipe Franks pass complete to Mike Woods for 20 yds to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down
Q3 11:21	Arkansas	+12 yd	Feleipe Franks pass complete to Hudson Henry for 12 yds for a TD (A.J. Reed KICK)
Q3 11:21	Arkansas	+23 yd	Vito Calvaruso kickoff for 64 yds , JaVonta Payton return for 23 yds to the MisSt 24
Q3 3:50	Mississippi State	+6 yd	Dillon Johnson run for 6 yds for a TD (Brandon Ruiz KICK)
Q4 15:00	Mississippi State	+26 yd	K.J. Costello pass intercepted Joe Foucha return for 26 yds to the Ark 47
Q4 11:13	Arkansas	-7 yd	De'Vion Warren run for a loss of 7 yards to the Ark 21 De'Vion Warren fumbled, recovered by MisSt Aaron Brule
Q4 8:52	Arkansas	+20 yd	George Caratan punt for 37 yds , Jaden Walley returns for 20 yds to the Ark 30

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Mississippi State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
K.J. Costello	43/59	313	5.3	1	3
Team	0/1	0	0.0	0	0

Arkansas

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Feleipe Franks	20/28	212	7.6	2	0

Rushing

Mississippi State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dillon Johnson	9	39	4.3	1	9
Jo'quavious Marks	10	37	3.7	0	10
Kylin Hill	1	7	7.0	0	7
K.J. Costello	4	4	1.0	0	7

Arkansas

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Trelon Smith	14	48	3.4	11
Rakeem Boyd	8	28	3.5	5
Feleipe Franks	8	8	1.0	9
KJ Jefferson	2	0	1.0	1
De'Vion Warren	2	-6	-3.0	3
Team	3	-15	-5.0	0

Receiving

Mississippi State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Osirus Mitchell	5	61	12.2	0	34
Jaden Walley	6	56	9.3	0	16
Jo'quavious Marks	10	50	5.0	0	13
Dillon Johnson	8	35	4.4	0	10
Cameron Gardner	3	32	10.7	0	12
Malik Heath	5	27	5.4	0	12
JaVonta Payton	2	23	11.5	1	17
Tyrell Shavers	3	21	7.0	0	11
Garrett Shrader	1	8	8.0	0	8

Arkansas

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
De'Vion Warren	4	100	25.0	1	52
Trey Knox	3	31	10.3	0	12
Michael Woods	3	29	9.7	0	20
Trelon Smith	5	22	4.4	0	10
Hudson Henry	4	20	5.0	1	12
Treylon Burks	1	10	10.0	0	10

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Mississippi State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	QB HUR
Erroll Thompson	13	6	0	0	0
Martin Emerson	8	5	0	1	0
Fred Peters	6	4	0	0	0
Marquiss Spencer	5	3	0	1	1
Esaias Furdge	5	3	0	0	0
Aaron Brule	5	2	1	1	3
Marcus Murphy	5	2	0	0	0
Shawn Preston Jr.	5	2	0	1	0
Nathan Pickering	4	1	1	1	0
Kobe Jones	3	0	0.5	0.5	0
Jaden Crumedy	3	0	0	0	1
Londyn Craft	2	2	0	0	0
Aaron Odom	2	1	0	1	0
Tyrus Wheat	2	1	0.5	0.5	0
Jordan Davis	2	0	0	0	0
JaVonta Payton	1	1	0	0	0
Jaden Walley	1	1	0	0	0

Arkansas

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Bumper Pool	20	7	0	0	2	0	0
Grant Morgan	15	4	0	0.5	1	0	0
Jalen Catalon	13	9	0	0	0	0	0
Zach Williams	6	2	0	0	0	0	0
Simeon Blair	6	1	0	0	1	0	0
Greg Brooks Jr.	5	3	0	0	0	0	1
Jerry Jacobs	4	4	0	0	0	0	0
Montaric Brown	3	3	0	1	0	0	0
Jonathan Marshall	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Hayden Henry	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
LaDarrius Bishop	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Eric Gregory	3	1	1	1	0	0	0
Myles Slusher	3	1	0	0	0	0	0
Hudson Clark	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Xavier Kelly	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
Joseph Foucha	2	0	0	0.5	0	0	0
Karch Gardiner	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
John Oehrlein	1	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Mississippi State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Londyn Craft	0	0	1
Aaron Brule	0	0	1
Jaden Walley	1	1	0

Arkansas

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Deon Edwards	0	0	1
De'Vion Warren	1	1	0
KJ Jefferson	1	1	0

Interceptions

Mississippi State

No recorded stats in this category.

Arkansas

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Joseph Foucha	2	26	0
Greg Brooks Jr.	1	69	1

Kick Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
JaVonta Payton	2	49	24.5	26	0

Arkansas

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

Mississippi State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Brandon Ruiz	0/0	0.0	0	2/2	2

Arkansas

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
AJ Reed	0/0	0.0	0	3/3	3

Punt Returns

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jaden Walley	2	21	10.5	20	0
Austin Williams	1	0	0.0	0	0

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Nathan Parodi	1	-1	-1.0	0	0

Punting

Mississippi State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tucker Day	4	162	40.5	0	1	49
Reed Bowman	1	51	51.0	0	0	51

Arkansas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
George Caratan	7	300	42.9	1	3	48
Reid Bauer	1	38	38.0	0	1	38

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401237094) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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