Final Stats | Season Stats | Tickets for South Dakota St. Game
 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 10-ranked Arkansas (3-0) scored 21 unanswered points in the final 11 minutes, 38 seconds to overcome a double-figure lead by visiting Missouri State here Saturday, escaping with a 38-27 win over the Bears.
 
Missouri State (2-1), the No. 5-ranked team in the FCS ranks, led 17-0 out of the gates before Arkansas tied it up, 17-17, late in the third. However, the Bears stood tall, reeling off 10 straight points from there and led 27-17 after a 31-yard field goal by Jose Pizano with 12:04 remaining.
 
But the Bears would punt on their final three possessions of the night, while Arkansas dug in and scored three touchdowns in short order. Raheim Sanders scored on a 73-yard pass from K.J. Jefferson with 11:38 to go, then less than three minutes later, the Razorbacks struck again with an 82-yard punt return for a score by Bryce Stephens that gave UofA a 31-27 lead.
 
On the ensuing drive, MSU QB Jason Shelley hit Kevon Latulas for a 38-yard strike into Arkansas territory at the 37. But the drive would stall there after a false start, an incompletion, a short completion and a sack on third-and-11 forced the Bears to punt.
 
"I wish we could have finished in the fourth quarter," said Bears head coach Bobby Petrino. "We were a little overwhelmed by their pass rush at times, but I was very proud of our effort and how hard our team played."
 
Arkansas finished with eight sacks on the night, including six in the second half.
 
After MSU's punt, Arkansas took over at its own 20 with 6:50 to play, and Jefferson engineered another scoring drive to seal the Bears' fate. Sanders carried four times on the drive, including a 43-yard effort to the MSU five-yard-line before being knocked out of bounds and setting up a first-and-goal. After Sanders' longest run of the game, the clock never stopped, running continually until Jefferson called his own number and punched it into the end zone from one yard out with 1:39 to go to conclude an otherwise tremendous effort by Missouri State.
 
For his part, Shelley completed 24-of-43 passes for 357 yards and a touchdown for the second-highest passing total of his career. Latulas and Jahod Booker each caught five passes for 57 and 37 yards, respectively.
 
Ferrin Manuleleua led the Bears' defensive efforts with eight total tackles, while Montrae Braswell added seven.
 
Sanders led Arkansas' attack with 167 rushing yards on 22 carries with a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. Jefferson was 19-of-31 for 385 yards as part of a 597-yard offensive effort by the home side.
 
The Bears built a 17-0 lead out of the gates, capitalizing on two Arkansas turnovers and a quick-strike score in the second quarter to put the Razorbacks on notice.
 
Missouri State turned an early Arkansas mishap into the game's first score as Von Young recovered a fumble at the MSU 36 with 7:17 left in the opening stanza. From there, Shelley and company covered 64 yards in 12 plays with Jacardia Wright giving the visitors an early 7-0 lead with a one-yard touchdown carry.
 
Arkansas wasted little time getting the crowd back in the game on its next drive with Jefferson connecting on a 64-yard pass to Ketron Jackson Jr. at the MSU one-yard line. But on the very next play, Sanders coughed it up, and Ikenna Ahumibe jumped on it for the Bears for their second takeaway of the opening quarter.
 
Just over two minutes later, the Bears made it 10-0 on a 28-yard field goal from Pizano, capping a 69-yard drive that included a 45-yard pass completion to Naveon Mitchell to set up the next score for the visitors heading into the second.
 
After a UofA punt to open the second, Shelley sliced a 20-yard pass to Lance Mason to the Arkansas 25. Later, on a third-and-nine at the 24, Shelley called his own number and scrambled into the end zone from there to make it 17-0 with 10:36 left in the half.
 
The Razorbacks responded with two quick touchdown drives before the half, making it a 17-14 game at the midway point. A three-yard rush by Sanders capped a 75-yard Arkansas scoring drive that consumed just over two minutes. Then with just 64 seconds left in the half, Jefferson hit Jadon Haselwood for a 38-yard touchdown strike to cap a two-play, 85-yard drive that took just 16 seconds.
 
Arkansas continued its momentum into the third, getting a 27-yard field goal from Cam Little to knot the score at 17-17.  But the Bears responded quickly as Shelley engineered a 75-yard scoring effort that culminated with a 47-yard TD pass to Ty Scott on fourth-and-one to return the lead to Missouri State.
 
Pizano's 31-yard field goal with 12:04 left in the fourth made it a 27-17 Bears lead before the home team's late-game rally spoiled Missouri State's upset bid.
 
The announced crowd of 74,133 was the largest ever for a Bears football game, topping the previous high-water mark of 70,607 the last time MSU was in Fayetteville in 2011.
 
Missouri State will now begin preparations for the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener next week against South Dakota State (2 p.m., ESPN3) at Robert W. Plaster Stadium in Springfield. The Sept. 24 contest is also Family Weekend on campus.  
 
Tickets for the South Dakota State game are available at MissouriStateBears.com or at the MSU Box Office at Great Southern Bank Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.