Razorback Hearts Broken in Death Valley, Waste Freshman's Big Day

Arkansas loses shootout with LSU, mismanagement of timeouts haunt Pittman, Hogs

Author:
Daniel Shi
Updated:
Sep 23, 2023 11:00 PM EDT
Original:
Sep 23, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Who gets the ball last, gets the last laugh. LSU kicker Damian Ramos kicked a walk-off chip shot 20-yard field goal for a 34-31 win. The Hogs hung with LSU all night, but disorganization pre-snap forcing Arkansas to burn all three timeouts early in the second half left the Hogs between a rock and a hard place late. A curious decision not to let LSU score the touchdown to get the ball back to the offense led to the walk-off, as head coach Sam Pittman watched helplessly as quarterback Jayden Daniels milked the last 5 minutes off the clock to set up the game-winning field goal.

"Give credit to LSU," Pittman said. "Daniels played a great game. Once he got on he was on. I thought we frustrated him early, but we couldn't stop him from the end of the first half forward. He was on. We tried several different coverages. I was proud of the offense as far as their resiliency to come back and score. They overcame a lot of their own self-infliction with penalties... We really thought we could come beat LSU tonight. We fell three points short... I'm proud of our effort, but none of us are happy with the result."

The Hogs continued to flirt with fire with nine penalties in the second half. A hold on Hasz wiped out a long touchdown pass over the middle to Armstrong, which would have tied the game at 31. Arkansas was then faced with a third and 18, but this time it was LSU's turn to bail out the Hogs with an unforced error. Linebacker Harold Perkins, who is a projected first-round pick, was flagged for roughing the passer. The next play, Hasz redeemed himself with his second touchdown of the night, an 11-yard touchdown grab, but LSU managed the last possession to perfection to leave Arkansas no hope. The Hogs wasted a big day from freshman Luke Hasz had the first 100+ receiving yard game for an Arkansas player all year with seven catches for 116 yards.

"It was definitely a great experience," Hasz said. "I knew coming in here it was going to be a good atmosphere. I just go about every game, play like it's a normal game and that's exactly what happened."

A week after the Hogs lost to BYU, everyone left Arkansas for dead, but they showed early that they would not roll over on the road against a top-15 team. Senior wide receiver Tyrone Broden, who Pittman wants to get more involved in the passing game, broke out in the first half for three catches for 31 yards including the only Hogs touchdown of the first two quarters. Broden only had 15 receiving yards through the first three games.

After the two teams traded three-and-outs to begin the ball game, the Hogs offense sprung to life with a 25-yard scramble from quarterback KJ Jefferson on third-and-10. Broden converted another third down to get Arkansas into the red zone, but a week after the Hogs committed 14 penalties a false start on the LSU 1 on third and goal forced Arkansas to settle for a 23-yard Cam Little field goal.

Arkansas' defense thwarted a promising ensuing LSU drive, with an interception by defensive back Dwight McGlothern, the former LSU Tiger came back to haunt his old stomping grounds by picking off a pass intended for tight end Mason Taylor. On the very next play, Jefferson returned the favor, as Andre' Sam picked a ball off his shoetops on a pass intended for Broden.

The Arkansas defense continued to make critical plays in big moments. With the Tigers once again moving the ball down the field in plus territory, transfer defensive lineman Kelvie Rose, who has had more reps lately, came up with an eight-yard sack on first down to force LSU behind the sticks and eventually punt.

Arkansas used a mix of the running game with sophomore Rashod Dubinion and the passing game with senior receivers Isaac TeSlaa and Andrew Armstrong to once again force their way into the red zone, but once again LSU's goal line defense held firm, and the Hogs once again settled for Little's second 23-yard field goal to extend the lead to 6-0.

LSU's Jayden Daniels struggled to find his rhythm, fresh off his 30-for-34 performance last week against Mississippi State, and finished the first half just 9-for-16. A 41-yard run by Josh Williams sprung the Tigers offense to life but this time LSU stalled in the red zone and could only cut the lead to 6-3.

Jefferson leaned on Armstrong on the next drive, who finished the first half by catching all five targets for 68 yards. Broden finished the drive by making a spectacular catch down the right sideline for a 19-yard touchdown despite defensive pass interference with just 48 seconds left.

Daniels, who had been just slightly off with his deep passes, finally hit one for a 49-yard response to Brian Thomas Jr. over the middle to cut the deficit back to three to end the half. LSU also got the ball to start the third quarter.

Having deferred in the first half, the Tigers had a chance to double up with back-to-back possessions. Deja vu struck as an offsides penalty gave Daniels a free play, which he gladly accepted and fired off a second 49-yard touchdown strike to Thomas in as many drives as LSU took the lead for the first time all night, 17-13.

Arkansas, in desperate need of a response, opted to use Dubinion as the main source for the rushing attack after relying on junior AJ Green against BYU. Four carries on the drive for Dubinion for 25 yards got Arkansas into the red zone for the fourth time. A fake field goal on fourth-and-two at the 19-yard line, which holder Max Fletcher ran up the middle to extend the drive, however, that ended up being a blessing in disguise for LSU. Back-to-back sacks forced Little into action again, this time drilling a 40-yarder to cut the gap to just one. Arkansas burned two critical timeouts during the sequence and the Hogs offensive line, who had played relatively well, showed their first sign of weakness.

"We've got to finish drives, " Jefferson said. "That's the main thing going into it. It starts with me up front."

LSU slowly started to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, six of the nine plays on the next drive were runs as the Arkansas defensive front was put on their heels. The drive was capped off with an 8-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Malik Nabers, fresh off a 239-yard performance against Mississippi State, to make it 24-16.

Faced with their largest deficit of the night, Arkansas overcame two pre-snap penalties as LSU cornerback Zy Alexander was baited to a rolling Jefferson, which allowed Hasz to sneak down the sideline for a season-long 59-yard touchdown. The Hogs overcame another false start on the two-point conversion for another catch by Hasz from 7 yards out to tie the game.

Daniels and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock would not be denied a fourth touchdown, although they were helped out by more Razorback self-inflicted presnap wounds. An offside on third-and-five in the red zone gifted the Tigers a free first down, ultimately leading to Nabers' second touchdown of the day, a 21-yard strike and a 31-24 LSU lead.

The Hogs were able to fight back with more magic from Jefferson and Hasz but ultimately came up on the wrong end of the stick as the third straight game between these two teams was decided by three points. The prevailing story of the season of pre-snap penalties and critical late decision-making came back again.

The Hogs will look to turn the page after back-to-back heartbreaking losses in the Southwest Classic in Arlington, Texas, against Texas A&M on Sept. 30 at 11 a.m. A TV network has not been announced yet.