Arkansas got off to a very slow start on both sides of the ball, but recovered and hold a 21-7 lead at the half.

Here are some thoughts:

• There have been plenty of sloppy moments throughout the half. The defense struggled to stop MSU’s option in the first quarter. Mallett has thrown a couple of interceptions. Greg Childs has dropped a couple of passes. Both sides have been, at times, out of sync.

• Mallett does have three touchdown passes to three different receivers (Joe Adams, Cobi Hamilton and Jarius Wright). The quarterback also has set or tied two more school records. He has equaled Clint Stoerner for TD passes in a season (26) and set the school record for TD responsibility (28). Those are the 11th and 12th records he has set or tied this season.

• Arkansas is doing a pretty good job of bottling up MSU’s ground game. The Bulldogs had 98 rushing yards in the first half, but gained minus-2 in the second quarter thanks to a handful of sacks. Anthony Dixon has 55 rushing yars. Chad Bumphis had a 49-yard run on MSU’s first play.

• I mentioned sacks. Arkansas got MSU quarterback Tyson Lee on the ground four times in the first half. Jake Bequette had an impressive series at the end of the first half. On back-to-back plays he sacked Lee. He also forced a fumble and recovered it on the second sack to end an MSU scoring threat.

Here are some stats worth mentioning at halftime:

Total Yards: Arkansas 226, MSU 131

Passing: Arkansas 191, MSU 35

Rushing: MSU 96, Arkansas 35

Turnovers: Arkansas 2, MSU 1

Individually:

Passing: Mallett — 10 of 20, 191 yds, 3 TD, 2 INT; Tyson Lee — 4-6, 22 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT

Rushing: D. Johnson — 6 for 31; Anthony Dixon — 13 for 59

Receiving: J. Wright — 3 for 34, TD; Marcus Green 2 for 15