Razorbacks report

Chaney in familiar territory

Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney talks with quarterback Brandon Allen before the start of Saturday night's game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

BATON ROUGE - Today will mark the third time Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney has coached against LSU in Tiger Stadium.

Chaney is hoping his third visit ends better than the other two, as LSU beat Cal State-Fullerton 56-12 in 1987 and Tennessee 16-14 in 2010.

The Vols appeared to have beaten the Tigers 14-10 three years ago when LSU center T-Bob Hebert’s shotgun snap from the Tennessee 1 sailed by quarterback Jordan Jefferson as time expired.

But the Vols were penalized for having 13 players on the field, and the officiating crew overlooked Herbert slamming his helmet to the grass after the bungled snap. After the penalty, LSU tailback Stevan Ridley scored a 1-yard touchdown on a pitch play.

“When you lose a game, they’re all awful memories at the end of the day, but that one’s hard to forget,” Chaney said.

Chaney said Cal State-Fullerton’s game at LSU was delayed for about 30 minutes by lightning. LSU’s live tiger mascot, Mike, made waiting a little scary.

“All I can remember is that tiger screaming the whole time we were in the locker room,” Chaney said.

“It sounded like he was right in our locker room.”

Turner can tackle

Arkansas safety Alan Turner has a team-high 86 tackles, which is 16 more then linebacker Braylon Mitchell, who is second on the team with 70.

“I’m trying to do whatever I can to help the defense and help the team as a whole,” Turner said. “To lead the team, I feel pretty good about it.”

Defensive coordinator Chris Ash said he’s been impressed by Turner’s consistency.

“Every week he shows up and he’s the same player,” Ash said. “He’s not perfect, he doesn’t make every play, but he goes extremely hard and he tries to play physical.”

Protect D-Mac

LSU’s Odell Beckham Jr. has 2,175 all-purpose yards this season, the third-most in SEC history. Beckham is 135 yards behind the 2,310 amassed by Arkansas’ Darren McFadden in 2007 and 222 yards shy of the SEC record of 2,396 yards set by Kentucky’s Randall Cobb in 2010.

Scoring woes

Arkansas has fallen to No. 108 in the nation in scoring, with an average of 20.1 points per game. The figure is last in the SEC, trailing No. 103 Kentucky’s 21.1 points per game.

For the second year in a row, Arkansas has struggled to turn defensive or special teams plays into points. In 23 games since Joe Adams’ 51-yard punt return touchdown during Arkansas’ 29-16 Cotton Bowl victory over Kansas State,the Razorbacks have just one non-offensive touchdown on Tevin Mitchel’s 26-yard interception return Sept. 21 at Rutgers.

Swanson helps out

Offensive line coach Sam Pittman said senior center Travis Swanson has helped a lot to bring along true freshman guards Denver Kirkland and Dan Skipper.

“He’s really rubbed off on the two freshmen,” Pittman said. “Those guys just continue to play better each week, and I attribute a lot of that because of Travis being in there and pushing them.”

Swanson was a preseason All-SEC first-team pick, and coaches have said he’s lived up to that billing.

“He’s been even better than what I thought he was,” Pittman said. “When we first came in, the very first day we came in, we watched all our kids … and he has certainly exceeded what we thought he would be.

“We didn’t know his character, and obviously when you know that, you know that he’s going to be better than even maybe he’s capable of being, just because of his want-to and desire.”

Sports, Pages 27 on 11/29/2013