FAYETTEVILLE — Saturday night was a stark reminder that games aren’t played on paper. Otherwise, the Arkansas vs LSU matchup would have gone much differently.
Statistically speaking, the Razorbacks should have been able to run the ball — and stop the run — against the Tigers at Razorback Stadium. The opposite happened, as No. 8 LSU cruised to a 34-10 win that brought Arkansas back down to earth after its win over No. 4 Tennessee two weeks earlier.
Despite having an extra week to get healthy and prepare, not to mention the support of their largest home crowd in 14 years, the Razorbacks got whipped on both sides of the ball in the run game. LSU out-rushed Arkansas 158-38 and it felt even more lopsided than that.
That statistic was a major reason why Sam Pittman’s team never led on its way to its worst loss of the year, dropping to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in SEC play.
Failing to Stop the LSU Run Game
LSU has one of the most prolific passing attacks in the country, but against Arkansas, it had a truly two-dimensional offense.
That was worst-case scenario for Sam Pittman, who told reporters Monday that the Razorbacks would “be in trouble” if they let the Tigers have success running the ball.
Those words proved prophetic. LSU controlled the game on the ground, finishing with 158 yards on 37 carries — well above their season average of 123.3 rushing yards per game, which was next-to-last in the SEC coming into the day.
It was also more than 50 yards more than what Arkansas had been allowing this year, as the Razorbacks had the SEC’s fifth-best rush defense at only 106.5 yards allowed per game.
“They ran the stretch play well — ran it so well, we knew it was coming and couldn’t stop it,” Pittman said. “I thought their line did a good job. We didn’t tackle particularly well. We made some hits and all that made it second-and-4 and second-and-5, so I just think that their backs ran hard, their line blocked well, we missed some gaps and we didn’t tackle like we had in the past.”
Considering LSU’s prowess in the air, Arkansas entered the day primarily concerned with stopping quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and his talented group of receivers.
Although they did manage to limit the Tigers’ big plays, they consistently gave up short passes underneath and were gashed on the ground, gaining their second-most rushing yards of the season. Their season high was 237 against South Alabama, while their best mark against a Power Four school was 132 against South Carolina.
“I think we somewhat came into the game overcompensating for the pass because they’re a really talented team in the passing game,” Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson said. “It’s always (a priority to) stop the run, but at the same time, we went into it trying to avoid the deep ball, as well.”
Freshman running back Caleb Durham did most of the damage for LSU, as the 5-foot-9 freshman eclipsed the century mark for just the second time this season with 101 yards on 21 carries and doubled his season touchdowns by scoring three.
The first of those scores was particularly back-breaking because it came after an offensive pass interference penalty and a false start backed the Tigers from the 2 to the 22 — only for Durham to score on the very next snap.
“I just think that this has been a constant focus over the last few weeks of really detailing out the things we believe we do well and sticking with it, and being really committed to it,” LSU football coach Brian Kelly said. “We stuck with it and, quite frankly, we got the looks this week that allowed us to have a better running game, as well.”
Arkansas Run Game Sputters
If things were bad for Arkansas’ run defense, they were even worse for its rushing attack on offense.
The Razorbacks ran for only 38 yards on 19 attempts against LSU. Even excluding three sacks, they would have had 62 rushing yards, which still would have been a season low. Their previous low was 100 yards against Texas A&M.
UCLA, which entered the day with the second-worst rushing offense in the country, is the only team that managed fewer yards on the ground against an LSU team that’s 13th in the SEC in that category (127.7 rushing yards/game).
Meanwhile, Arkansas came into the game averaging 199.5 rushing yards per game, which was fourth in the league.
Of course, one reason for the low total was that the Razorbacks ran the ball only 19 times compared to 31 passes. That split looks even worse when you consider three of those carries were sacks, not to mention at least one scramble by quarterback Taylen Green.
“We were just trying to do what we thought had success,” Pittman said. “We were protecting it pretty well in the first half, and then had some breakdowns there in the second half.”
While his statement earlier in the week was focused on LSU’s run game and not allowing the Tigers to be two-dimensional, it honestly could have been applied to his offense because Arkansas was also in trouble without the threat of the run game.
All three of Green’s sacks were in the second half, when the Hogs were desperately trying to dig out of a double-digit deficit.
“It starts with controlling the line of scrimmage,” Brian Kelly said. “They could not run the ball, they became one-dimensional and when that happens, we can get after it and we can get after the quarterback and we made life difficult for him.”
The score wasn’t the only thing working against the Razorbacks. They had the ball only four times in the first half as LSU built a two-score lead while controlling the clock. With LSU dominating the time of possession (38:51-21:09), Arkansas was pressured to air it out more.
“When the time of possession is so (lopsided), I think you may go, ‘Hey, this is what I know we can go attack and let’s try to see if we get a little bit bigger play out of it,’” Pittman said. “And I felt like that’s what we were trying to do a little bit more than normal. You can see that we’re having a hard time getting off the field, so you might think a little bit more of trying to quick-strike and get more explosive plays.”
It also didn’t help that leading rusher Ja’Quinden Jackson was clearly hobbled. Even before he had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter, he was consistently coming out of the game and had only 5 carries, which totaled a respectable 26 yards.
The Utah transfer and converted quarterback has yet to miss a game this season, but he’s seemingly been plagued by various ailments all year. Even though he practiced all week, Jackson wasn’t 100%.
“He came into the game with a little bit of a beat up ankle and it turned on him,” Pittman said. “We’ll have to wait and see. I don’t know if it was any worse than last week at this time, so hopefully we’ll be able to get him back.”
With Florida State transfer Rodney Hill still sidelined with an MCL injury, Rashod Dubinion and Braylen Russell were tasked with picking up the slack — and both struggled.
Dubinion had the longest run of the day for Arkansas, but he fumbled the ball back to LSU after a nice 13-yard game. He ended up finishing with 15 yards on four carries, while Russell had just 3 yards on three carries, with two of his runs being stuffed at the line of scrimmage.
Looking Ahead to Arkansas vs Mississippi State (and Beyond)
The Razorbacks don’t have much time to wallow in their sorrows. They must bounce back quickly with a road trip to Starkville, Miss., for what appears to be their most winnable remaining SEC game.
Granted, Mississippi State seems to be playing better of late, including giving both Georgia and Texas A&M competitive games the last two weeks, but the ground game will once again be critical for Arkansas.
Even if Ja’Quinden Jackson isn’t 100%, the Razorbacks should be able to run it against a team that entered Saturday with the worst rushing defense in the SEC — by a significant margin. In fact, the Bulldogs were ranked 120th in that category. They’re also just 96th nationally in rushing offense.
~ For more of our coverage, click on “Special Teamer Makes Case as Best Razorback + More from LSU Loss” ~
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