BATON ROUGE, La. — Darren McFadden fumbled the ball the first two times he touched it Friday at Tiger Stadium.

How did the junior All-American respond ? By shining on the nation’s biggest stage.

McFadden, playing in possibly his last regular-season game as a Razorback, ran for three touchdowns and passed for another as Arkansas downed No. 1 LSU 50-48 in triple overtime.

“ I had a rough start, ” McFadden said. “ I was just down on myself for a little while. I’m just glad it came out the way it did. ”

McFadden did his best to assure Arkansas’ first game in nine years against the topranked team came out on his side.

McFadden ran 32 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns, and was 3-of-6 passing for 34 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown strike to Peyton Hillis to put Arkansas ahead 28-21.

“ I knew how good he was, ” LSU coach Les Miles said. “ I watched him a year ago. It was not surprise. I was surprised how successful he was against us, but not about the running back. He has a great combination of power and speed. If he is not the first player taken at his position [in the NFL Draft ], I would be surprised. He certainly had a Heisman performance today. ”

Operating out of the Wild-Hog formation, McFadden was lethal on national TV for the second time this month.

McFadden tied an Southeastern Conference record with 321 rushing yards Nov. 3 against South Carolina in Fayetteville. He followed that game up with two more 100-yard games as the Razorbacks closed the regular season winners of three of their last four games.

“ He’s a big-time player, ” Arkansas running backs coach Tim Horton said. “ That’s the only explanation I can give as to why he plays this way when the lights come on. ”

In the four games this month, McFadden has rushed for 838 yards. The difference was McFadden had been held to just one rushing November touchdown entering Friday’s game with LSU and no rushing scores since the South Carolina win.

Against the Tigers, McFadden capped Arkansas’ first big drive with a 16-yard run midway through the second quarter and a 73-yard burst early in the third. His 9-yard run in the second overtime gave the Razorbacks a 42-35 lead.

McFadden was especially tough out of the WildHog. Five of Arkansas’ seven touchdowns against the Tigers came with McFadden operating out of the quarterback position.

“ We intended for that, ” Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. “ We were going to [run the formation ] at least 30 percent, maybe more. Their defense is so fast, so good, that we had to do something that we felt gave us an advantage.

“ With McFadden at quarterback, they had to respect the run — they had to respect Felix [Jones ], they had to respect Peyton [Hillis ]. They had to respect the pass. It gives us the advantage with all those great athletes. ”

Nutt said McFadden’s performance should be recognized by Heisman voters.

“ The guy deserves the trophy, ” Nutt said. “ It’s not right for his name not to be mentioned as No. 1 right now. ”

McFadden wasn’t as blunt when asked the same question.

“ I say the numbers speak for themselves, ” McFadden said. “ However you want to put it, numbers speak for themselves. ”

McFadden passed Auburn great Bo Jackson for third on the SEC’s all-time rushing list in the first quarter. McFadden now has 4, 490 rushing yards in his career. McFadden trails Kevin Faulk by 67 yards for second on the list.