First Half: Razorbacks Hanging Tough with LSU

Loud crowd, solid defense, cold footballs giving Arkansas shot at knocking off Tigers

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Nov 12, 2022 1:41 PM EST
Original:
Nov 12, 2022

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE – A fourth down call with momentum heavily in the Razorbacks' favor may haunt Sam Pittman if LSU finds a way to sneak out of Fayetteville with a win today.

The Razorbacks' defense forced its second turnover of the first quarter to give Arkansas the ball at its own 10-yard line. However, after the drive stalled at the 3-yard line, Pittman called for his team to go for it on fourth down.

Hornsby was stopped at the line of scrimmage after finding no open receivers, killing the Hogs' momentum with no points added to the board.

Despite this, the smaller, but boisterous crowd has stuck behind Arkansas.

Arkansas is coming off a heart-breaking loss to Liberty and dealing with news that starting quarterback KJ Jefferson is out, but that didn't stop a typically late arriving Razorback crowd from fighting cold and ice to get in the stadium early to crank up the noise well above what is usually heard for kick-off of 11 a.m. SEC teams.

Apparently Tigers don't do well in the cold. Freezing temperatures coupled with the not so brilliant move to try to get snow off the field by spraying water on it with temps in the 20s at the time caused a frozen mess on the field which led to piles of ice around the sidelines.

Fittingly, the LSU defense came out cold.

Arkansas set an SEC record with five sacks of LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels in the first half and has yet to give up a touchdown. The two teams have combined for 53 yards in the first half.

The defense started out with a pattern of two great plays followed by a bust until fortune smiled on the Razorbacks.

Latavius Brini came away with an interception when the ball appeared to stick in the hand of Jayden Daniels, causing it to bury in Brini's belly.

Arkansas was unable to capitalize, but it became apparent that quarterback Malik Hornsby has an opportunity to break one today as he was tripped up at the last second on what would have been a huge play.

Arkansas continued to get its best pressure of the year up front and the crowd became a massive problem for LSU. That, along with with solid man-to-man defense in the secondary

One thing that is clear is that the cold is causing problems holding the football. Players are bobbling the ball left and right.

Hornsby looked great early on. Throws were crisp and he looked like he would definitely be a problem for LSU as a runner. He opened with two big runs on the second drive.

Hornsby's threat as a runner briefly opened the run up for Sanders on the RPO. LSU's linebackers kept freezing.

Arkansas gets on the board with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter as Cam Little kicks what sounded like a brick through the uprights to give the Hogs a 3-0 lead.

Daniels fumbled and Brini recovers deep in Arkansas territory at their own 10-yard line. Unfortunately, the Hornsby mystique wore off as the LSU defense adjusted.

Arkansas was able to march to the three and elected to not kick the field goal. Pittman opted to go for it on 4th and 3 and failed to get the touchdown as the Razorbacks turn it over.

LSU responded by deciding to go for it on their own 24-yard line. Arkansas caught a break as everyone bit on the fake, leaving Daniels breaking into open field when the play is blown dead for a false start.

Arkansas then caught another break when a fake punt that was converted for a first down resulted in a holding call.

The Razorbacks returned the favor though when Hornsby fumbled on third down.

Gregory gets a huge sack, the fourth of the day for Arkansas, to force a 38-yard field goal to make it 3-3 with just over nine minutes left in the half.

LSU then tacked on another field goal with 1:51 left to send the teams into the half with Arkansas trailing 6-3 and Hornsby 2-of-6 for 15 yards passing.

On a side note, Liberty is losing to UConn 21-17 at the half.