Hogs hammer #9 LSU 31-14
BATON ROUGE, La. - In front of an electric crowd of 101,699 Saturday night, Arkansas dominated No. 9 LSU 31-14 at Tiger Stadium.
The win improved the Razorbacks to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in league play, making them bowl eligible for the second consecutive season. Arkansas moved to second place in the SEC West. LSU dropped to 7-2, 4-2.
"Our guys are getting to feel that mojo," Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema said postgame. "It was a complete game on offense and defense. I think we've found the recipe."
Senior quarterback Brandon Allen finished the day completing nine of his 16 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown, while Arkansas also grounded out 299 rushing yards. Junior running back Alex Collins was responsible for a bulk of the damage with 141 yards on 16 carries, followed by Kody Walker with 88.
Arkansas held LSU sophomore running back Leonard Fournette to just 91 yards and a TD on 19 carries. Fournette entered the game as the nation's leading rusher.
The Razorbacks jumped out to an early 7-0 lead with 8:06 left in the first quarter after Allen threw a 52-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Dominique Reed. Reed finished the game with three catches for 83 yards and one TD and now has a TD reception in six straight contests.
After holding LSU scoreless on the ensuing possession, Collins exploded for a season-long 80-yard TD run, putting him over 100 yards on the ground for an SEC-leading eighth time this year. "He prepared well all week for this," Bielema said.
The Razorbacks got the ball back after freshman linebacker Dre Greenlaw forced a fumble that was recovered and returned to the LSU 11 by Brooks Ellis. It took Collins just two plays to break through to the end zone and extend Arkansas' lead to 21-0 at the 3:55 mark.
The Tigers finally found the end zone when Brandon Harris capped a nine play, 83-yard drive with a 5-yard TD pass to Malachi Dupre with 24 ticks left in the second quarter.
The Razorbacks led 21-7 at the half.
On their first possession of the third quarter, the Tigers marched 67 yards down the field in eight plays, getting a 2-yard TD run from Fournette to close the gap 21-14.
The Razorbacks responded with a 25-yard Cole Hedlund field goal.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, sophomore wide receiver Jared Cornelius made a huge catch for a career-long 69-yard TD to make it 31-14.
Looking to trim the deficit, LSU marched down to the Arkansas 11, but junior defensive back DJ Dean picked off Harris in the end zone to essentially close the door for the Razorbacks.
"Our defense did a nice job of not letting the quarterback get outside the pocket," Bielema said.
The Razorbacks possessed the ball for the final 3:26 of regulation and went on to win 31-14, giving LSU just its sixth loss in night games under head coach Les Miles.
Arkansas plays host to No. 20 Mississippi State next Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
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