All Hogs

Honest Reactions to Second Half of Arkansas-LSU as It Unfolded

So much to love about this game, but so many questions that will need to be answered as Razorbacks fall in shootout to Tigers in Baton Rouge

Kent Smith

Honest Reactions to Second Half of Arkansas-LSU as It Unfolded
Honest Reactions to Second Half of Arkansas-LSU as It Unfolded /
In this story:

Pardon any errors that may have been missed
as this is written quickly as things happened. 

In the past minute and change going back to the first half, Jayden Daniels puts together consecutive 3-play, 75-yard touchdown drives that puts LSU on top and sucks the wind out of the Razorback's sails. This next drive will go a long way into showing whether Sam Pittman brought a bunch of dogs to Fayetteville or whether the room is packed with a bunch of soft fluffy bunnies looking to dig themselves a hole and hide. 

Just like it felt like it was a 20+ point lead when Arkansas was up 6-0 and dominating, it feels the same way going the other way with LSU up 17-13 now. It might as well be 40 points instead of four and Arkansas responds with a false start followed up by getting swarmed on a screen play. Now the crowd is in it. Just once, you want one of these Razorback teams to surprise you. It's always so predictable how the flow of the game is going to go.

And there's a surprise. Pass over the middle to TeSlaa for 17-yards and a first down. That immediately quietens the crowd and brings the momentum to a little more even spot. And there's Dubinion getting out around a blitzing defender and to the outside for 11 yards to the 40-yard line. It's just good to see some sort of positive yards.

TeSlaa with the shifty hips makes it easy to see the defensive holding. He had his man beat on the move. And the Hogs are running the power game up the middle. The energy in this offense is different now. This is similar to what we thought things might look like all year. Part of the offensive line problems might be because the offense was so vanilla. Arkansas is getting a huge push up front when they run the ball. 

That play on 3rd and 2 is going to have Arkansas fans ripping their hair out. Once again Arkansas is in the shotgun trying to pick their way to a hole and Jefferson gets strung out to force 4th down. Surely Arkansas is going to try a field goal here. If the Hogs go for this and give up a touchdown to a hot LSU offense, this game gets out of hand fast. There's a big difference between one point and 11 points

Good to see Little come out. Fake field goal attempt by Max Fletcher! How did he get through all that traffic. He's so slow and gangly hardly describes him. No idea how he got through there for the first down. He even took out the referee. Huge momentum surge for the Razorbacks comes as the lad from down under gets his first carry. What guts.

Jefferson gets a carry that puts Arkansas inside the 10, so what will be the Arkansas-like thing that will happen to kill this momentum shift? Looks like it's going to be a pair of sacks. The first was for six yards and the second was a terrible job of blocking the ends on either side. Jefferson got hit by both Perkins and Womack. It was Womack who held on for dear life on Jefferson's legs and finally wrestled him down. It was addressed in the first half how hard things would be for Jefferson after Perkins put the tape up of how easily he can beat Chamblee off the edge and that's exactly what happened. It just got mirrored on the other side. Jefferson's going to need a strong ice bath after this one.

After all that, the Razorbacks get a Cam Little field goal to make it 17-16. It is so important that this defense come up with a stop of some kind to cool this offense off. No big plays.

LSU is responding with a slow, plodding drive that's taking three here, seven there. It's easing so much clock and wearing every player in the box out. They've been using fight analogies all night and this is one of those moments where you worry the guy isn't going to make it through the round as he lays on the ropes and just gets pounded. 

And there's a huge uppercut by the Tigers. Daniels finds Nabers all alone. How LSU got their best receiver matched up on Landon Jackson is a head scratcher. He tried to cover him, but on the replay you could see he was sucking air so hard that he didn't even try to run with Nabers. He just lightly jogged and watched the touchdown happen a good five yards in front of him. It's now 24-16 and those timeouts Pittman has already burned look like they are going to matter.

If Arkansas doesn't answer with a long, slow drive that ends in a touchdown, this game is over. This defense is gassed and the way the rules work, the Razorbacks can't survive another touchdown this late in the game. Games used to be decided in the final four minutes, but with the new clock rules, the game is decided by the 10 minute mark of the 4th quarter. 

Dubinion follows up losing three yards by powering his way for 12 yards with a huge pile of men on him the final six yards. That may have been the most important play of the game. It made it possible to get a first down and keep hope alive as the Razorbacks head into the fourth quarter.

LSU uses feints up front to get Arkansas to get baited into two false starts. After the play, one of the Razorback offensive linemen got chunked across the field onto his back. It was brutal to watch such a big man planted so hard. 

And Jefferson takes a hit while throwing the ball from an untouched defender off the edge. Hogs lucky that wasn't an interception, although had Dubinion caught it, there would have been a huge play. Jefferson with a big run give Arkansas breathing room and a chance at a first down.

Now Jefferson is under pressure and he slides out of the crowd and the defender has completely forgotten Luke Hasz looking at Jefferson staring down a huge chunk of empty field. Jefferson flips it and it's going to be a touchdown. He goes 59 yards for the touchdown. That was a lot of pressure to haul it in that open and Arkansas is going to go for two to tie it. 

And Arkansas tries to Arkansas away its opportunity. Illegal motion ... again. That will back them up. All that work with the noise in practice doesn't seem to have done much. These guys are more jittery than Scooby Doo when the Red Ghost interrupts his sandwich making. Kudos to Pittman for not throwing his headphones halfway into the stands.  

Pittman says he's going to gamble on going for two anyway. Guess it still make sense. Might be easier for Jefferson since his receivers will have extra space again. And he hits the freshman Hasz again. He slipped over the middle and Jefferson slid it right into his hands. What poise for a freshman in such a hostile environment. You're seeing a freshman become a man tonight. This is a big deal. And for Jefferson to trust him in that situation. That says so much.

And just like that, LSU is back into Arkansas territory. Penalties are piling up, which is going to be another discussion with the media afterward that is going to have Pittman chippy again if the Hogs lose. The Tigers just move the ball with such ease and it feels like the Arkansas offense is fighting wolves and pulling miracles to keep up. If this goes to overtime, there's no way the Razorbacks have anything left. 

The Hogs need just one stop, but there doesn't feel like there's any way this defense has a stop in them. There's just no way Arkansas wins this game. It's a great fight, but between penalties, which are approaching double digits again, and the fact LSU appears to be stronger and in better shape looks like it will be too much to overcome.

Pooh Paul takes a vicious hit from behind to force 2nd & 17. It doesn't matter though. Nabers just ran right past Singletary and he never got within a yard of Nabers with his back fully turned. Daniels is going to get the credit, but his strength and conditioning coach gets that touchdown. Daniels made a good throw, but it's easier to hit a wide open target when his defender is tripping over his own tongue because he's low on juice. Maybe Jefferson needs to get a bag of Skittles for the entire defense. If they could just somehow make a stop, the offense could win it, but LSU will have to stop itself tonight.

That's four straight 75-yard drives for LSU. It feels a lot like when Alabama slammed the door with several consecutive drives in a close game last year.

Jefferson had Hasz wide open for what might have been another touchdown, but a linebacker dropped back and got his hand up to knock it down. That's a killer. Another false start. The Razorbacks are reacting to movement instead of watching the ball. That's pee-wee football training. How does that happen.

Jefferson with such a huge play. He's under heavy pressure on third down deep in his own territory and finds Dubinion who made a great play to punch a defender in the chest to shuck him and get the Hogs all the way into LSU territory. Dubinion has been a horse tonight. He's running like it's personal. 

What a touchdown sequence by Jefferson. That was his NFL play. He shuffles up the pocket amid all the pressure and flips a perfect pass to Armstrong at the goal line. And it's coming back. Limmer got called for a hold and that is an understatement. Limmer had in basically in an old school full nelson from behind. That's going to kill this drive.

Nevermind. Jefferson strikes again on the next play. He steps up in the pocket again and finds Hasz all alone. He thought about just going out of bounds, but gathered himself and turned on the jets up the sideline. He delivers a powerful shot. 

Arkansas is out of timeouts and it costs Arkansas delay of game. Everything about that play was terrible. That will make it 2nd and 18. How many miracles can this team drag out of its pocket? Clock is becoming the enemy. Wait? There's a flag? Late hit. Roughing the passer. How dumb can you be? It was borderline by Perkins, but he went through Jefferson and made no effort to pull up at all after the ball was thrown. 

OK. Is Hasz wearing an invisibility cloak? He gets left alone for a fourth time tonight and he skirts into the corner past the pylon for the touchdown and Jefferson has tied the school record with Matt Jones. Can't say how glad I am that he tied the record in the 4th quarter tying a game against a quality opponent like LSU. You'd have hated to have seen that record go down against Kent St. on a throw that might not have mattered much. Wouldn't it be fitting if he broke the record by upsetting the Tigers?

This defense desperately needs an interception or a fumble because there is no other way a stop is going to happen. The only issue for LSU right now is to not score too fast. Arkansas has no timeouts and that's going to be the undoing of Arkansas. The Hogs can't let this get under 1:30 without a turnover or allowing LSU to score.

Arkansas made the tackle when they shouldn't have. Just punch at the ball as he goes by and shove him into the end zone. They just gave up the game. The Hogs may not get the ball back if LSU plays this out right.

Does Arkansas think they can block the kicker on what is essentially an extra point? That's really hard to do. Maybe it happens. Stranger things have occurred. You just hate to see the game taken out of Jefferson's game after he worked so hard to keep this team in it.

The interesting thing here is this field goal isn't going to take eight seconds. Is there a slight chance Sategna gets a shot to return it? Will he get a chance to return it or to simply run by a guy on a single play? That penalty at the half yard line in the first half is a huge deal now.

How in the world do you not send Sategna to mid-field and throw it to him with a chance to use his speed to make a play? Will have to go back to see if he was even on the field on the last play. 

Published
Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.