FAYETTEVILLE -- Sam Pittman's teams had never lost coming out of a bye week, but the week off didn't do anything to cure their turnover issues and the Hogs fell to LSU 34-10 in Razorback Stadium.
Arkansas turned the ball over three times and LSU took advantage of each to spoil Arkansas' homecoming. Taylen Green was 21 of 31 passing for 239 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Green's interception was particularly costly with LSU's Whit Weeks picking off a tipped Green pass at the Arkansas 5 and returning three yards. LSU scored one play later on a 2-yard run by Caden Durham for a 24-10 lead following the 2-point conversion with 4:52 remaining in the third quarter.
That interception seemed to take the life out of Arkansas. On LSU's next possession Damian Ramos booted a 47-yard field goal. Then LSU scored on its following possession when Durham powered in from the 1-yard line with 2:20 remaining in the game. Sam Pittman talked about the turnovers afterward.
"Yeah, it hurt, big-time," Pittman said. "Because I think R-Dub (Dubinion) got 12 yards on that particular run as a first-down play. I think we had the ball four times in the first half. Really moved it pretty well, then something would go wrong, then of course the interception was a one-play -- we got the ball (down) 16-10, everything was coming in what we thought, what we told the kids at half 'We get the ball, we'll get it to a one-score game, whether it's a field goal or a touchdown. We'll get the ball back and we'll take the lead and put the pressure back on them.'
"It kind of was working out that way, but we missed an outside rusher that we should've blocked, then threw the ball, got tipped up and they made the 2-point conversion on top of that. We got down 14 and just seemed like we couldn't bounce back from that."
LSU scored on its first possession of the game. They completed a 75-yard drive when Durham sprinted in from 22-yards away. The touchdown came on a third-and-goal play when it looked like the Hogs might stop the drive thanks to offensive pass interference and false start penalties on back-to-back plays.
On Arkansas' first possession they tried to match LSU's drive. However, Arkansas' offense stalled out at the LSU 24. Matthew Shipley missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.
LSU followed up with a 14-play, 60-yard drive that ended with a 33-yard field goal by Ramos. The LSU lead was 10-0 with 38 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
LSU got the ball back immediately when running back Rashod Dubinion fumbled at the Arkansas 38. Jarden Gilbert forced the fumble that Major Burns fell on to give the Tigers outstanding field position. Arkansas' defense did stiffen to hold LSU to a 48-yard field goal by Ramos to go up 13-0.
The Hogs fought back though. They promptly put together a 9-play, 75-yard drive that saw Green find wide receiver Andrew Armstrong for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Shipley added the PAT and Arkansas was within 13-7 with 8:25 remaining in the first half. Armstrong caught seven passes for 94 yards and one touchdown.
Ramos put LSU up 16-7 with 3:10 remaining in the first half when he booted a 33-yard field goal.
The Hogs got the football to start the second half. They put together an 11-play, 42-yard drive that ended with Shipley blasting a 51-yard field goal. That pulled the Hogs to within 16-10 with 9:57 left in the third quarter. But that was the last promising moment for the Hogs as disaster followed.
"Well, I want to give credit to LSU," Pittman said. "Very physical football team. Didn't have any turnovers, (Garrett) Nussmeier was really good. Their offensive line was, as well. Defensively, we couldn't run the football on them, couldn't get off on third down. There were a lot of things that we've got to get better at. We've got to coach them better, as well, but I thought this was a really good LSU team coming in here. I think they are now, too. Fifty offensive snaps and three turnovers, we have to do better there. We have to get off the field on third down."
LSU finished with 384 yards of total offense including 226 passing and 156 rushing. Nussmeier completed 22 of 33 passes for 224 yards and no turnovers. Durham rushed 21 times for 101 yards and three touchdowns. LSU had the ball for 38-minutes and 51-seconds to 21:09 for Arkansas.
"Just taking what we were giving him," Pittman said of the LSU offense. "They were throwing 8 and 10-yard hitch routes, wide-open. Obviously we tried some different things there, tried some man-to-man and tried some zero coverage, total coverage. They were, Nussmeier was really good and their wideouts were really good. We've got to get better because we'll see a lot of that on down through the season, through the end of the season."
The Razorbacks once again couldn't run the football in SEC play. They finished with just 38 yards on the ground.
"I don't know. I think you’re always trying to establish the run you know, you’re always trying to establish the run," Pittman said. "The score dictates somethings, I think how you feel like your matchup is on the protections and the throwing and catching I think that has something to do with it. But you never want to abandon the run unless the score dictates that you don’t have a chance. So we’ll go back to work and try to get all that corrected."
Arkansas (4-3, 2-2) will be in Starkville next Saturday to face Mississippi State (1-6, 0-4). Mississippi State fell to Texas A&M 34-24 on Saturday. Kickoff next Saturday will be 11:45 a.m. on the SEC Network.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
