A handful of thoughts and observations from Arkansas' 16-13 overtime victory at LSU on Saturday:
• Another special teams win for the Razorbacks
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman doesn’t usually single out players following wins, but he did Saturday after the Razorbacks’ 16-13 overtime victory at LSU.
One of the two players the second-year coach gave a special shoutout was true freshman Cam Little, who nailed the game-winning 37-yard field goal. The Moore, Okla., native made all three of his kicks and for the second week in a row played a critical role in a narrow Arkansas win.
“We’ve got Mr. Automatic back there and, man, did he do a nice job,” Pittman said. “The man’s got ice water (in his veins), man. For a young guy, he did a heck of a job.”
Little, after his final kick in overtime, improved to 17 of 21 on field goals this season. The confidence of that kid is through the roof, and it should be. He has the second-most made field goals in a season by an Arkansas kicker since 2011.
Zach Hocker made 21 of 27 attempts in 2011, Connor Limpert was 19 of 24 in 2018 and Little — with two weeks to go in the regular season — is not far behind. I am a big fan of the fun Little has on the field and the swagger he has about him.
More from WholeHogSports: Full coverage from Arkansas' win over LSU
In addition to Little’s big night, Arkansas punter Reid Bauer deserves some praise, too. With the Razorbacks’ offense struggling mightily for a lot of the game, punting was never more important this season than in Baton Rouge.
Bauer delivered for Arkansas. He averaged 43.7 yards on seven punts and tallied a long of 53 yards.
Three of his seven kicks traveled 50-plus yards and Bauer also pinned LSU inside its 20 three times. But the highlight of his night wasn’t a kick.
It was his 23-yard run on a Razorbacks fake field goal that eventually led to Little’s boot to put Arkansas up 13-10 late in the third quarter.
“I thought he was going to score,” Little said. “I was so excited for him because we’ve been practicing that play and we finally got to use it. I’m super happy for him. We went out there and got a field goal at the end of the drive, so that was a big-time drive for us and great execution from our special teams.
• Arkansas’ stud linebackers came to play yet again
There are a handful of things you can count on just about every weekend that the Razorbacks take the field.
One is that Little is going to make a field goal or two. Another is Treylon Burks will have multiple catches and/or big plays. You can also bet KJ Jefferson will play largely clean and Dominique Johnson will run hard.
The one that may be as sure-fire as any of those is great production from the Razorbacks’ three playmakers at linebacker: Grant Morgan, Hayden Henry and Bumper Pool. They are always solid.
On Saturday at LSU it was no different. In fact, they raised their play and each finished with 10 or more tackles. Pool led all players with 13, Morgan had 11 and Henry 10.
Together, they combined for 23 of Arkansas’ 50 solo tackles and 4.5 of the Razorbacks’ 7 tackles for loss. Henry led the trio with nine solos, and he added a sack in overtime.
Enjoy these three players while you can. This is a special bunch at the second level.
• Montaric Brown is having a terrific season
The other player Pittman gave a shoutout to in the postgame locker room was the Razorbacks’ most veteran cornerback, who came up with the last of the big plays for Arkansas’ defense.
His interception of LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in the end zone in the top of the first overtime was the Razorbacks’ third takeaway of the game and the cherry on top of a nice individual night. Brown, who may have something of an argument for an All-SEC spot by season’s end, finished with 5 tackles, 1 pass breakup and 1 interception.
The Tigers appeared to target Brown fairly often through the air in the early stages of the game. LSU’s results were mixed. He was called for defensive pass interference once, but he also prevented other chunk plays in the passing game.
“I just love when a team targets me,” Brown said. “It just gives me more opportunities to make plays. As a DB, you want the ball to come to you. I was loving it, actually. I know I had a (pass interference) called in the first quarter; just got to have amnesia playing corner and just got to have that confidence each play.”
Brown has a team-high four interceptions this season and three have come against SEC competition. He also picked off passes against Rice, Texas A&M and Auburn.
Coming into the weekend, only one player in the league had four interceptions, and South Carolina’s Jaylon Foster led the way with five. Brown is keeping good company.
• KJ Jefferson is a magician with the ball in his hands at times
It seemed as if Arkansas’ best offense for stretches Saturday was the redshirt sophomore quarterback making something out of nothing. He did that on a number of occasions against the Tigers and it was fascinating to watch.
Jefferson is a problem for opposing defenses each week. LSU sent a lot of pressure his way, but he did not fold.
The Tigers got free shots on the quarterback far too often for Pittman’s liking, but they didn’t always bring him down. LSU finished the game with three sacks. The Tigers know they should have had more.
Jefferson’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Johnson was a thing of beauty that began as a disaster as he ran away from a chaotic backfield, bounced off defenders and kept his eyes downfield. LSU failed to bring him down then and on other plays, and he made the Tigers pay.
Jefferson completed 18 of 25 passes for 142 yards and the touchdown, and he rushed 15 times for 41 yards. He finished the night with 5 runs of 6 or more yards, and 3 runs of 11-plus yards.
Again, Jefferson was cool under pressure. He is a winner.
• Arkansas is winning its winnable games
Coming out of the bye week, there appeared to be three games down the stretch that the Razorbacks should have at least a good shot at winning. So far, Arkansas is 2-0 in those games.
The Razorbacks now sit at seven wins, their most in five years.
Being on the right side of the toss-up games or 50-50 games is one key to having a great year and an indictor a program is trending in the right direction. That is Arkansas right now.
Alabama is going to be an uphill battle on the road next weekend. The Razorbacks will certainly compete against the Crimson Tide, but Alabama can be overwhelming and squeeze the life out of teams.
Missouri is another winnable game for Arkansas, and it’s in Fayetteville. If the Razorbacks simply protect their home turf, they are looking at an eight-win regular season.
That would be remarkable.