Second-half drowning: Hogs flail as Tigers run away

BATON ROUGE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks played with a stiff backbone for one half at Tiger Stadium despite facing a field-position hole.

The second half was a different story after LSU uncorked its run game and burned the Hogs with the deep ball.

Senior quarterback Austin Allen, making his first start in a month, led the Razorbacks 86 yards for Devwah Whaley's tying touchdown run late in the first half to make things interesting.

The No. 24 Tigers then marched down the field for a touchdown behind of series of big plays to open the third quarter and the Razorbacks could not keep pace in a 33-10 loss before a crowd of 98,546 at Tiger Stadium.

Derrius Guice rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns and LSU quarterback Danny Etling found DJ Chark for deep-throw scores of 45 and 68 yards as the Tigers flexed their big-play muscles.

Arkansas (4-6, 1-5 SEC) had its two-game winning streak snapped, lost its second in a row in the Battle for the Golden Boot and must now win its final two games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (7-3, 4-2) delivered the Hogs their school-record fifth loss of 20 or more points this season, including three to SEC West foes Alabama, Auburn and LSU.

"I want to win as bad as anybody," said fifth-year Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema. "It consumes my every day."

Bielema said he feels badly for the team's seniors.

"Your heart goes out to them because you know how much they've put into it," he said. "But on the same account, we want to win football games and that's what we've got to do. That's what I'm paid to do and that's what we have to do."

LSU Coach Ed Orgeron liked his team's second-half outburst -- when the Tigers outgained Arkansas 290-186 in total offense -- its balance and a defense that held Arkansas to 5-of-15 third-down conversions.

"The offense in the second half was outstanding," Orgeron said. "We were very balanced today, with 217 yards passing, 208 yards rushing. No turnovers. I thought our defense was outstanding most of the game."

Arkansas linebacker De'Jon Harris, who had a team-high 12 tackles while playing near his home town of Harvey, La., said the Hogs' downfall was a matter of energy levels.

"First half we had all the energy we could have," Harris said. "We were feeling it, we were going. We just came out in the second half and flopped."

Allen completed 13 of 23 passes for 140 yards and was sacked once in his first action since Oct. 7 before giving way to Cole Kelley for the final two possessions. The Razorbacks had lousy first half field position but persevered.

"I thought our defense played really well in the first half," Allen said. "The field position battle, they were winning that one. Then that drive before the half ended was huge for us. I just wish we could have sustained it."

Arkansas safety Santos Ramirez was asked what he saw at halftime.

"I'm not in every guy's head," Ramirez said. "I don't know what's going on in every guy's head, but I see guys coming in and it kind of worries me when guys are laughing and everything like that. That worries me at halftime because we have to keep that same fire.

"We didn't fight for four quarters. We came out the first half and we were with them. The defense, we can't come out and give up a touchdown that fast."

LSU drove 75 yards with the first possession of the third quarter, starting with Etling's 19-yard pass to Stephen Sullivan on the first snap.

Russell Gage had a 15-yard gain on a jet sweep, then Etling found Tory Carter for 15 more yards to the Arkansas 13. Two runs by Guice and LSU was in the end zone with a 13-7 lead.

"I think when we came out in the second half, when we gave up that defensive score, it was tough to swing that mojo back," Bielema said.

Allen drove the Razorbacks 53 yards, helped by Will Gragg's 33-yard gain on a screen pass and David Williams' 25 yards rushing, overcoming a holding call to set up Connor Limpert's 38-yard field goal to pull the Hogs within 13-10.

LSU led 19-10 after kicker Connor Culp missed two extra points in the third quarter and faced third and 9 from its own 32 to open the fourth.

Chark gave cornerback Kamren Curl a stutter step, ran past him down the right sideline and cradled Etling's long heave en route to a back-breaking 68-yard touchdown.

LSU's final score came after the Tigers stopped backup quarterback Cole Kelley on a fourth-and-1 sneak at the Arkansas 22. Guice's 1-yard run five plays after the defensive stand nailed down the final score.

Kelley drove the Hogs 54 yards to the LSU 25 on Arkansas' final possession, but cornerback Andraez Williams intercepted his fourth down pass in the end zone to snuff the scoring threat.

The Razorbacks did not cross midfield until late in the second quarter but managed to hang tight with solid defense and a flubbed field goal from Culp.

Arkansas fell into a field-position rut after Gary Cross muffed the opening kickoff and returned it to the 3. The Hogs' average starting position in the first half was its own 12, while LSU's average starting spot was its 39. The teams combined to take six of 29 offensive snaps in LSU territory in the first quarter.

The Tigers couldn't maximize their early possessions. Culp had his streak of eight consecutive field goals come to an end when he pulled a 32-yard try to the left after a 43-yard drive that had reached the Arkansas 10.

LSU broke on top on its next series, as Chark shook free from defenders deep down the left side and Etling hit him in stride for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

LSU had good field position the rest of the half, but Arkansas' run defense was up for the challenge, and Etling's deep throws were off the mark.

Arkansas took advantage of its longest punt return of the season, a 14-yarder by Henre Toliver, to forge the 7-7 halftime tie.

Tight end Jeremy Patton had a 10-yard catch to open the series, then Whaley rambled for 21 yards up the middle. Arkansas crossed into LSU territory for the first time on Patton's 27-yard catch and run.

Williams had a 12-yard run and Allen scrambled for 8 yards to the 1 as the clock ticked down below 27 seconds remaining in the half. Whaley powered in on the next snap to make it 7-7 at the break.

"We kind of battled and scraped and clawed," Bielema said. "It wasn't a pretty first half, but it was a 7-7 game coming out. We got that last score and you feel good about the momentum being on your side.

"Really talked it up in the locker room about making a stop on defense, but obviously they took the momentum right out of us on that first drive and we never really got it back."

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Sports on 11/12/2017