What Does LSU's Win Over Arkansas Mean for 2020 Season, Outlook of Program?
A win over Arkansas normally might not mean much in a typical season for LSU. Coming into the matchup, the Tigers had taken four straight from the Razorbacks and seven of the previous nine overall.
But as 2020 has proven multiple times, this has been one of the most difficult seasons to watch in recent memory. The stat chart that popped up on the SEC broadcast in the first quarter didn't put many fans’ minds at ease either.
The numbers are staggering as LSU hasn't quite literally had a season on the defensive side of the ball like this one in its history. For that to come a season after winning a national championship is a gut punch.
But in Saturday's win over the Razorbacks, the players and coaching staff stuck together, through the loss of both its starting cornerbacks and a fourth quarter deficit that in past weeks would've spiraled out of control.
"Grit. Will to win. 'We got this, Coach.' Everybody stuck together. Everybody's into the game the whole time," Orgeron said. "Coaches stuck together. You could just feel that all week and hopefully that that's the way things are going to be from now on. We can build on it."
It was an important step for the young players to pull out a win in the clutch minutes and receive some big time help from those freshmen and sophomores who are the future of the LSU roster.
TJ Finley obviously led the game winning drive but capped it off with a 13-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Jaray Jenkins. Freshman tight end Arik Gilbert brought in five catches for 55 yards while sophomore back Tyrion Davis-Price led all rushers with 104 yards. A clutch stop and blocked field goal from sophomore Jay Ward in the closing seconds secured the win.
"It was a great feeling," Davis-Price said after the game. "I hate losing and we had a great week of practice and it was time to get that [losing] feeling out of us. We needed that as a team and I love those guys and we stuck with each other."
The locker room was as excited about the win over Arkansas as any other game this season after going three weeks with not having a game. In the past when the team started to get behind, focus on the sideline was called into question.
That wasn't a problem on Saturday and it's a mindset that the players and Orgeron hope carries into the rest of the 2020 schedule.
"It's something we prepare for, next man up mentality, we had a bad taste in our mouth from the last game and it's been three weeks since we were able to get an opponent," linebacker Jabril Cox said. "We knew we had to fight to the end and we believed in the next player up and continued to fight."
