BATON ROUGE, La. — Arkansas and LSU, the Battle for the Boot, under the lights in Death Valley? No better way for the Razorbacks to flip the script on their season.
The Hogs suffered through a week of doubt from all angles, after a frustrating and disappointing loss at home to BYU. Vegas declared them as three-score underdogs at LSU, and no one outside of Sam Pittman was picking the Hogs.
But in the first half, it seemed Arkansas had figured something out. After the teams traded three-and-outs to tart the game, the Hogs turned to KJ Jefferson. The Razorback QB either threw the ball or ran it himself on nine of 11 plays on the drive, though the team stalled inside the five and had to settle for a field goal.
the defense continued to come through forcing a Dwight McGlothern interception and LSU punt on the next couple drives. KJ threw a pick of his own, but after the Tiger's punt, he orchestrated another long drive. Once again, the Hogs couldn't punch it in inside the 1ten and had to settle for a Cam Little field goal.
After LSU got on the board with a field goal of their own, Arkansas finally hit paydirt. Jefferson hit Tyrone Broden for a 19-yard touchdown, and the Hog lead was 13-3.
But those missed opportunities as well as a mountain of penalties began to haunt the Hogs.
LSU quickly scored a touchdown before halftime, then did it again on the first drive of the second half. Just like that, Arkansas trailed for the first time all night.
The Hogs put together another long drive, spurred on by a fake field goal conversion on fourth down, but back to back sacks forced the Hogs to settle once again.
On the other side of the ball, LSU figured things out. The Tigers scored touchdowns on their next two possessions, each time going up by one score.
But the Hogs had the feel of a team fighting for their season. They were able to overcome brutal penalties on consecutive drives, a pair of touchdown passes from Jefferson to the freshman tight end, Luke Hasz. With five minutes left, LSU took over with the game tied at 31-31.
And yet despite Arkansas's second half efforts to keep it close, LSU led a drive all the way down the field to secure the win 34-31 after a field goal.
This is the fourth game in a row between the two that has been decided by three points.