Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

11/28/2009 at 6:03pm

BATON ROUGE -- Greetings from Tiger Stadium. This is a live blog from the Arkansas-LSU football game (Nov. 28).

All kinds of bowl scenarios are being discussed, including some right now behind me between the representives of the Liberty and Cotton bowls, in light of Ole Miss losing 41-27 to Mississippi State.

This blog is posted in reverse chronological order. If you're reading this after the game, start from the bottom post and work your way up. If you're reading during the game, feel free to comment here in the comment section, or email me at jharris@abpg.com.

Arkansas has won the toss and will receive and defend the north goal. LSU is decked out in its new NIKE uniforms, and the Tigers looking NOTHING like LSU. The helmets are now metallic gold (Notre Dame like), the way LSU looked back in the 1940s and early 50s.

10:31 p.m. (33-30 LSU in OT) -- Looks like a lot's transpired since we last spoke. Darn near two hours, apparently.

Let's see: Joe Adams got viciously helmeted by LSU safety Chad Jones, and yet came back into the game to catch the touchdown pass that put Arkansas in front 30-27 with 1:18 to play.

That was too much time to leave LSU against an Arkansas defense that, after getting a first down sack of Jordan Jefferson, went to the three-man, prevent-victory defense that let the Tigers drive to Josh Jasper's 41-yard game-tying field goal with 4 seconds left.

Give Jasper credit for nailing the pressure kick. He was money all night.

LSU gained six yards on its first OT possession, so Jasper calmly hit a 36-yarder to put the Tigers in front. Arkansas, which won the toss for overtime, chose to defend the north goal, in front of the LSU student section.

Adams was not allowed to have his helmet by the UA training staff for the OT, as they were concerned about a concussion. Recall that Adams missed three games in midseason after what was termed a stroke. Greg Childs also was not out on the field for the Hogs, unable to overcome a cramp in his leg. That wasn't the main factors that played in Arkansas flubbing the OT.

On first down, as Bobby Petrino would explain later, Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett checked out of a called play to a run, which for the most part had been successful. But the Hogs' center missed a block and the play went for a 3-yard loss. On second down, Mallett's pass to an open receiver down the middle was batted down by the LSU end. Mallett connected with London Crawford on the right side for a short pass, and Crawford nearly shook loose of the tackle, where he might have scored a touchdown. It left Arkansas fourth-and-3, so Petrino called on the field goal try to tie.

And sadly for Alex Tejada, his good night and, really, a solid second half the second, came to a crushing end. Tejada has had problems kicking from the right hashmark, and his 36-yard field goal stayed right of the right upright, no good. 

LSU wins.

And, while CBS got itself a fairly exciting Iron Bowl on Friday between Alabama and Auburn, one has to wonder what goes through TV execs minds when they make some decisions. CBS decided to give up the LSU-Arkansas game on Friday. The past five have ended like this: LSU by 2 (19-17 here), LSU by 5 (31-26 in Little Rock), Arkansas by 2 in triple overtime (50-48 here), Arkansas by 1 (31-30 in LR), and now this three-point overtime win by LSU.

8:49 p.m. (24-23 LSU) -- Alex Tejada could have run away and hid after his late field-goal miss at Florida, but since that day he's hit all but one field goal (and that was a 52-yard attempt against South Carolina), and all his extra points. His 40-yard field goal after a 62-yard march that was mostly running, and eating up 6 minutes of the clock, pulls Arkansas to within one, 24-23, with 9:52 left. 

Good running again by Ronnie Wingo on that possession.

Now, the onus is back on the Arkansas defense, which has played well overall. There are a bunch of empty seats across the way in the lower section of the east stands. Those fans probably haven't been this chilled in a while. The folks in the end zone sections of this giant bowl have stuck around. My kind of folks. Arkansas has about 6,000 people here, all in the southest corner of the lower bowl.

8:35 p.m. (24-20 LSU) -- Arkansas' defense faces a huge play, with LSU looking at third and 7 at its 46. Hogs just called a time out.

On Arkansas' previous drive, Ryan Mallett had his best series of the night, driving the Hogs 67 yards, with a big catch and sprint by Jarius Wright getting things going. Mallett then connected on a beautiful deep fade to Greg Childs for 29 yards to the LSU 19 yard line. From there, again it was all on the ground for the Hogs. 

Ronnie Wingo repeated his running style on first down, getting 9 yards but having to exit after getting hit in the stomach. Knile Davis hurdled for 2, and then Broderick Green looked like a runaway train on a carry around left end to get the final 8 yards. 

8:17 p.m. (24-13 LSU) -- QB Jordan Jefferson and the Tigers overcame a holding penalty and some other confusion inside the red zone to move back up by 11. Jordan had plenty of time to drop and hit DeAngelo Peterson crossing for a 15-yard scoring pass. 

Jordan got the drive off to a good start with a second-down 10-yard called keeper, a timely pass down the middle to Brandon "JoJo" LaFell and a couple of possession tosses and good gains by tight end Richard Dickson, the senior who had missed last week's game at Ole Miss with an injury.

Jordan had to deal with an occasional good rush by the Hogs during the drive, but it wasn't consistent, and against the basic four-man front, he had plenty of time to find a receiver.

Now, the pressure returns to UA quarterback Ryan Mallett to settle down and get his passing going. He finished the first half 7 of 20, and he starts this drive by overthrowing a wide open Greg Childs at the left sideline on a deep route. He's on that same 33 percent pace that we've seen at Alabama, Florida and Ole Miss, the three best defenses Arkansas faced this year.

7:59 p.m. p.m. (17-13 LSU) -- About the only way LSU was going to get into trouble in this game, leading 17-6 at halftime and dominating defensively, was to turn the ball over. So that's what the Tigers did, as Jordan Jefferson's toss out to the left flat was picked by UA linebacker Jerry Franklin playing the receiver perfectly. DD Jones was credited with a tip on the play as well, but Franklin was in the perfect spot on the throw anyway.

Franklin returned the pick down the right sideline to the LSU 28 before being run out of bounds. That set up three striaight carries by freshman Ronnie Wingo, who ran as hard as he has this season. He gained 11, 4 and 13 for the touchdown, breaking two tackles and showing speed outside, then carring a tackler with him as he stretched the ball over the goal line. Suddenly it's a ball game again at 17-13, LSU with 12:24 left in the third quarter.

LSU finished the half on an offensive downer, it seemed. It also allowed the Hogs to drive in the last two minutes to a field goal by Tejada just before halftime to close the deficit to 11, 17-6.

7:15 p.m. (17-3 LSU) -- Oops. Hold off on that "player of the game" award to Trindon Holliday just yet. Dylan Breeding's punt out of his end zone was so bad, Holliday misplayed it at the UA 39, fumbled and the Hogs recovered at the 40. 

7:07 p.m. (17-3 LSU) -- Great kicking game all-around for LSU Punter Derek Helton has just pinned the Hogs at their own 4 with a nifty punt from midfield.

Trindon Holliday's 87-yard punt return for a score is the first time Arkansas has surrendered a touchdown on a return since 2002, when Kentucky's Derek Abney ran one back 86 yards on the Hogs in Fayetteville. That play keyed a 29-17 Kentucky upset.

Arkansas' only plus in the kicking game was Alex Tejada equaling his career long with a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter.

7:01 p.m. (17-3 LSU) -- Give Arkansas coaches credit for adjusting at least after they've taken two haymakers to the head. The Hogs just had Dylan Breeding punt away from Trindon Holliday and still get some distance before the ball rolled out of bounds.

It would be hard to believe it's a news flash to the UA coaching staff that Holliday is a demon as a returner, would it? 

6:51 p.m. (17-3 LSU) -- We were thinking on the trip down how being in the SEC is like an Arkansas bowl game every week (well, with the exception of going to Starkville).

And right now, Arkansas looks the way it used to look in the old days, trailing the likes of Alabama 17-3 in the Sugar Bowl or some such game, whipped in the kicking game, losing the battle in the trenches.

Trindon Holliday -- give him the game ball now! -- just took Dylan Breeding's punt back 87 yards untouched for a score and LSU is getting close to coasting in this one.

This was ALL on the punter, Breeding. The punt was decently long enough but with no air under it whatsoever. Arkansas's coverage unit could get down to pin Holliday in, and once he got a little seam it was over. Holliday took it down his right sideline.

Here's what we're sure of now: Les Miles got his team's attention after last weekend's debacle in Oxford with the time management, and senior Trindon Holliday decided to bring his A game. So did several other Tigers seniors. Arkansas is playing like it has away from home all season. Holding call up front, a procedure call on Ray Dominguez at LT (naturally, that's happened every road game, right?), and basically Ryan Mallett is being forced into a situation where he can't setup and throw well. Several of his throws have sailed too high to be caught.

LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis has dialed up some nice disguised pressures and surprised Mallett with some coverages down field, forcing him to run. LSU may have struggled offensive this season, but the defense has been much better this year.

6:44 p.m. (10-3 LSU) -- Arkansas may have gotten lucky to only give up a field goal after Trindon Holliday (the star of the game so far) returned Dylan Breeding's poor, line drive punt back to the Arkansas 38-yard line. LSU could move the ball only six yards, leading to Josh Jasper's field goal with 0:08 left in the first quarter.

LSU'd defense finished the quarter adding to its streak of eight games without allowing a first-quarter touchdown.

What we know: LSU is winning the line of scrimmage. UA's Ryan Mallett has managed to avoid a couple of sacks and get off a couple of quick tosses that became big plays, but the Arkansas offensive line isn't protecting him well enough for deep throws, nor is it opening enough room for the running game (which isn't anything new).

Defensively, Arkansas (and few teams, for that matter) doesn't have the speed to keep Holliday contained. Where he's been awfully deadly is with that extra burst that gets him around the kicking contain wall (on a kickoff and a punt return).

6:33 p.m. (7-3 LSU) -- That was fast -- pun intended.

Starting with Trindon Holliday picking up a squib kick, reversing his field and returning the kickoff to the LSU 40, LSU went 60 yards in 6 plays. Holliday was in on two of them that accounted for 30 yards, an 18 yard sprint around right end on a pitch, and a 12-yard carry on an option play to the left. The final 16 yards were covered by a Jordan Jefferson pass to Brandon LaFell.

Jefferson rolled to his right and had another receiver open in the right corner of the end zone. LaFell came across from left to right and made the grab about halfway into the end zone near the right sideline. LSU is up 7-3 with 5:21 left in the quarter.

What we feared from LSU has so far proved true: putting Trindon Holliday into the injury-depleted backfield and using his speed the way Ole Miss used Dexter McCluster to rip apart the Hogs defense.

When Arkansas tackles him, the Razorbacks better let the little guyf know they are there. But as Les Miles said earlier this week, Holliday is a tough kid who isn't afraid of contact. We expected he'd be a handful and he has been so far.

Arkansas isn't getting much going on offense on the next possession, especially after a holding penalty on Mitch Petrus and a third-down breakdown up front by the line leading to a 6-yard sack to the Hogs' 23.

6:24 p.m. (3-0 Arkansas) -- Wow. Alex Tejada powers a 47-yard field goal straight and true for a 3-0 Arkansas leads with 8;17 left in the half. It's Tejada's long of the season. He's been pretty dependable of late ever since that Florida miss late in the game. Mostly, he's been kicking extra pointss perfectly.

Tejada's previous long this season was 44. He had a 52-yarder against Ole Miss wiped out by a delay of game penalty.

Arkansas, after turning the ball over on its first series, got the ball back thanks to great play from its ends, Adrian Davis and Jake Bequette. Davis sacked LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson for a seven-yard loss after a Tiger first down. Bequette put a big rush on Jordan on third down, forcing a throw-away. 

That allowed the Hogs to set up at their own 39 after a punt. Ryan Mallett and Greg Childs immediately got the ball 27 yards up field on a short pass that Childs carried an additional 22 yards after the catch.

When Childs catches the football, this guy is darn good.

Arkansas stalled at the LSU 30, though. The Hogs had hoped on third and 7 to get tight end D.J. Williams open behind the secondary, but Chad Jones was with him all the way. This time Mallett threw it away.

Trindon Holliday is so dangerous a kick returner, the Hogs bounced the kickoff down the field to him, and he still returned it to the 40.

6:12 p.m. Ryan Mallett moves Arkansas down field with a 27-yard strike on a slant to Greg Childs, and Dennis Johnson picked up a nice gain of 23 yards to put the Hogs in good scoring shape.

On first and 10 from the LSU 28, however, Mallett on a bootleg right let fly with a pass toward a covered tight end, and LSU safety Chad Jones was sitting all alone at the 5 to make the interception, returning to the 14.

That didn't look like an NFL quarterback.