Razorbacks Travel to Baton Rouge to Take on the Tigers, Preview and Prediction
The annual border war between Arkansas and LSU continues this Saturday, and it comes at a time when the two programs are headed in separate directions.
For LSU, they are coming off a game in which they had two opportunities late in the fourth quarter to take the lead and upset Alabama. It was by far their best defensive performance of the year.
The 20 points they allowed to Alabama were the second fewest points they have
allowed all season, the lowest being the seven points they allowed to McNeese State in week two. The Tigers held the Crimson Tide and running back Brian Robinson to just six yards of rushing offense (which does include the yardage lost from four sacks).
The Tigers will look for a similar defensive performance against the equally impressive rushing attack of the Razorbacks. Arkansas is 6-3 overall, and has run for the fourth most yards in all of college football. They are averaging just under 244 yards of rushing offense per game.
The last time the LSU defense faced a rushing attack as good as Arkansas provides was two weeks ago against Ole Miss. The Rebels, who at the time were fourth in college football in rushing yards, ran on the Tigers for 265 yards and won 31-17.
The deciding factor in Saturday’s game may very well be what kind of LSU rushing defense shows up. If it’s the LSU defense that played against Ole Miss, the Razorbacks may pound the football up and down the field and control the game from the outset until the conclusion.
But, if it’s the LSU defense that showed up in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa last week and held Alabama in check, the Tigers could really impress.
When looking at the Razorbacks' rushing offense, it’s more similar to Ole Miss’s offense than it is to Alabama’s offense. Like Ole Miss, Arkansas uses their quarterback as a weapon in the run game.
Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral and Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson both ran the ball over 10 times a game on average. So far in 2021, Jefferson rushed for 92 carries for 433 yards and five touchdowns. Jefferson accents two talented running backs in Trelon Smith and Raheim Sanders that rushed for 476 yards and four touchdowns, and 460 yards and one touchdown.
Raheim Sanders, Running Backs, Arkansas
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
Arkansas will obviously desire to have the same offensive success that Ole Miss had against LSU and continue to use multiple options in the backfield to keep the Tigers defense on their toes.
An important reason that LSU had so much success stopping the Alabama offense last week could be that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young rarely ever runs the football. When he does run, it’s almost always scrambling, and even that is relatively rare. The call for Young to keep the ball and run by design has been extremely rare this season.
Will LSU be able to once again slow down an impressive rushing attack for the second week in a row?
Prediction
This game very well could go either way because LSU has been one of the more inconsistent teams this year, and their 4-5 record proves that. The over-under on this game is set at 59 points and that might be right on the nose.
This looks to definitely be a higher scoring game than what transpired last week with LSU against Alabama. Jefferson is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and is also taking care of the football, throwing for 16 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions.
He will continue this success Saturday as LSU is unable to repeat their performance from last week and returns to defensive mediocrity.
Arkansas 31 LSU 27