Ryan Mallett threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Knile Davis in the second overtime and the Arkansas defense made a pair of big stops in the extra periods as the No. 13 Razorbacks held off No. 21 Mississippi State, 38-31, in double overtime on Saturday night in Starkville, Miss.

In a game that had several twists and turns in the final two minutes of regulation and in the overtimes, Arkansas (9-2, 5-2 SEC) kept its hopes alive for a BCS bowl berth by winning its fifth straight game and setting up a big showdown in Little Rock next weekend against No. 5 LSU.

Davis, who rushed for a career-best 191 yards on 31 carries with a pair of touchdowns, fumbled with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as the Razorbacks were trying to run out the clock. The turnover at the Mississippi State 48-yard line gave the Bulldogs life. Tehey capitalized by driving down to the Arkansas 8-yard line before Derek DePasquale kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game at 31-31 and force overtime.

In the first overtime, Mississippi State (7-4, 3-4 SEC) looked like it was going to take the lead when Vick Ballard, who rushed for a career-high 156 yards and three touchdowns, broke off a 13-yard run and as he lunged for the goal line. But he was hit by Arkansas’ Jerico Nelson at the 2, forcing Ballard to fumble the ball over the goal line and out of bounds for a touchback.  Arkansas could not take advantage as Zach Hocker missed a potential game-winning field goal from 38 yards to force the second overtime.
 
After Mallett threw his third touchdown of the game, the Arkansas defense held again, sacking Mississippi State quarterback Chris Relf on fourth down at the 17 to end the game. Mallett notched his eighth 300-yard passing game of the season, throwing for 306 yards.