LSU Vs Arkansas: How The Tigers Lost The Arkansas Game.
The annual Arkansas vs LSU game is always for the right to take home the Golden Boot Trophy for at least one year and keep it as long as you win.
But to add more meaning to the game this year, the winner would also get the SEC's other bid for a BCS Bowl Bid if Auburn wins the SEC championship.
Although it was billed as No. 5 vs No. 12 in the BCS, it was No. 12 rated Arkansas that just outplayed and outperformed No. 5 rated LSU and took home all of the Gold, the BCS Bid, and also the Glory of the rivalry victory.
Even though LSU is still 10-2 for the year, the end results of a Loss like this with so much at stake is just a very sad and sickening feeling as The Tigers end their once promising season.
All through out the 2010 season, LSU has been called lucky because of their close games they were still in position and contention to win a BCS bowl bid and possibly much more if certain situations would come in to play.
But reality seems to have finally set in for this LSU team and they must now lick their wounds and try to pick themselves up and get ready for whatever Bowl comes their way.
While it was the vaunted LSU defense that enabled the Tigers to win most of their games with an anemic and struggling offense for most of the year, but neither the offense nor the defense had any answers for the Arkansas attack.
Since the Alabama game, LSU's defense has shown signs of crumbling and becoming just a good defense, but certainly not the dominating defense that all Tiger Fans have come to expect every year.
To give a recap, I would like to offer the following reasons why The LSU Tigers lost their Game against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
1. Two Missed Opportunities Without Scoring Touchdowns
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In a game like the LSU vs Arkansas game, it is most important that you take advantage of every possible opportunity the other team gives you.
But, LSU had two golden opportunities given them to pull away from Arkansas in the second half, but they did not take advantage of either.
Instead of touchdowns, LSU played conservative with play calling and/or they failed to execute on either of these opportunities, and they settled for field goals.
First it was a great Patrick Peterson kick off return that set the Tigers up near mid field . But after a couple of runs up the middle and a couple of short passes they gained only 17 yards, the LSU offense stalled and settled for a Jasper field goal.
Secondly, the Arkansas punter fumbled the snap and LSU recovered on the nine-yard line. But after several running attempts and a futile pass to D'Angelo Peterson in the corner, LSU again failed to move the ball and they settled for another field goal.
Additionally, Patrick Peterson gave the LSU offense excellent field position near mid field with some excellent kick off returns. But, again, LSU refused to open up the play book and they chose to run and attempt short passes with little success.
In many ways, it seemed that LSU was almost playing not to lose rather than playing to win, and that has been a consistent criticism of the Miles Staff all this year.
2. Unable to Stop Knile Davis
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LSU entered the Arkansas game with the No. 1 overall SEC total defense, and passing defense, but due to large amounts of yardage given up in key games this year, the LSU rush defense had slipped to seventh in the conference.
Arkansas running back, Knile Davis, ran for 159 yards in the game, that in itself indicates that LSU is nothing more than average against the run these days.
Stopping Davis should have been one of LSU's objectives for this game, but they were not very successful in stopping him and as a result they didn't stop the Arkansas passing game either.
By not really concentrating on stopping the running attack of Arkansas, LSU was kept off balance and caught out of position most of the day.
In the fourth quarter, with almost 10 minutes to go in the game, Arkansas started running the ball with Davis and others at will as the Tigers were apparently tired and Arkansas knew it. This was certainly a smart move on Arkansas's part.
The Razorbacks. just pounded and pounded the Tigers with run after run until they ran almost six and a half minutes off of the clock and then they kicked the winning field to give them an eleven point lead at 31 - 20.
LSU's inability to stop the featured Arkansas running back Knile Davis, had a direct effect on their chances to win this game.
3. The Three Big Touchdown Passes
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The Tigers No. 1 passing defense was more than tested by the record setting Arkansas quarterback, Ryan Mallett.
Let's just say the LSU pass defense was victimized by Arkansas as the Tigers made at least two very costly mistakes.
Both of these mistakes were made by backup safety Karnell Hatcher as he was filling in for the injured starter Brandon Taylor.
The first touchdown came with the score tied at seven as Hatcher was a step too late plus he took a bad angle to the receiver. He should have seen that he really had little chance to intercept or break up the play, and had taken a better angle to just make the tackle after the catch, LSU would have saved seven points.
But, the play that literally broke the Tiger's back for the whole game took place with only six seconds remaining in the first half, as Ryan Mallett made a simple throw and the receiver ran a post pattern over the middle.
Morris Claiborne appeared to have very good coverage and would have broken up the play or at least he would have made the tackle, but just as the ball arrived to the receiver, Karnell Hatcher again arrived at the wrong time with the wrong angle as he not only missed the receiver, but he then knocked Morris Claiborne out of the play and the receiver ran free for a TD.
This was so unbelievable and devastating play to the LSU Psyche, and the Tigers were not the same team in the second half.
Essentially, this one play with six seconds took all of the steam out of the Tigers and they were a shell of the team they were for most of this year.
Mallett topped things off for Arkansas as they were facing fourth down and three on the LSU 37 yard line.
The Tigers and most everyone else was expecting a run for the first down, but Arkansas caught LSU off guard and surprised them by throwing a 37 yard up pass with one on one coverage by LSU with Tyrann Mathieu to bring the score to Arkansas 28 LSU 20.
When asked by an interviewer why he chose to throw that 37 yard touchdown on 4th-and-3, Coach Bobby Petrino said " we didn't come here to pain, we came here to win". I love to see LSU taking that approach one day soon.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
5. Conservative Offensive Play Calling In The Second Half.
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Three weeks ago, LSU fans were celebrating one of their bigest victories over former LSU coach and his new team, The Alabama Crimson Tide.
If you have to pick a game that most all Tiger fans love to win, it would have to be the Alabama game as it is always sweet revenge over Nick Saban and good to defeat the Tide.
The most impressive thing about the Alabama game was how Offensive Coordinator Gary Crowton had finally opened up the offense for Jordan Jefferson to execute and he did a great job.
It was because of this opened up offense, that LSU was able to total 470 yards of offense against a well coached Nick Saban Alabama defense.
In the Arkansas game things began very similar to the Alabama and Ole Miss games, as Jordan Jefferson completed several nice down field throws that move the Tigers into scoring position.
But, for some reason it seems LSU totally abandoned their open aggressive play calling and went back to an ineffective running attack with only some short passing. In addition, Jefferson took too many sacks and basically was ineffective with the passing game.
Once this happened, LSU began to resemble the old anemic offense we have been seeing for most of the year. It is either Gary Crowton or Les Miles that decided to approach the second half in this manner, and it appeared LSU was now playing not to lose rather than to go for the win.
In my opinion, LSU and Jordan Jefferson reverted back to poor blocking on offensive line and Jordan Jefferson is again taking unnecessary sacks.
He still panics when the rush is on him and instead of running outside of the pocket to look for a receiver, he tends to get bottled up in the pocket and takes the sack.
5. Patrick Peterson and Drake Nevis Were Almost Non Factors On Defense.
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Two of LSU's three most effective defensive players are Patrick Peterson and Drake Nevis. Both of these guys will be playing in the NFL soon.
But, Arkansas was very instrumental in negating their effectiveness on Saturday. Even though Nevis was rushing in the middle, he never seemed to dominate as they seemed to have the proper schemes to keep him at bay.
Patrick Peterson, had a great day as a special teams player, but Arkansas chose not to throw in his direction too much, so you did not see him making many one on one defensive plays.
For the most part, LSU did an effective job on Mallett, but the two plays where Karnell Hatcher was involved cost the Tigers two long touchdowns. Hatcher made mistakes, but he will learn from this and become a good Safety for the Tigers in the future.
The other play maker is Kelvin Sheppard, and he was very active for the most part, but without Nevis and Peterson's involvement, LSU was sorely limited on defense.
Arkansas deserves a lot of credit for their excellent plan to reduce LSU's defensive effectiveness.
6. Second Half Offensive Execution By Jordan Jefferson
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The Alabama game was a game in which Jordan Jefferson seemed to come of age as an LSU quarterback.
Gary Crowton opened up the play book and allowed Jefferson the opportunity to throw down field and he made some excellent throws to open receivers.
Not only was his passing better, he just seemed to finally be in control of the offense and he became a quarterback in that game.
However, since that game he had a satisfactory game against Ole Miss, and he started off the Arkansas game very well in the first half.
In fact, at half time, Jefferson had better stats than Mallett did even with that 80-yard touchdown that Mallett threw to Cobi Hamilton with six seconds to go in the half.
But, in the second half the LSU offensive strategy seemed to change from opening up the book to closing down the book and trying to run and throw short passes.
Despite very good performance in the Alabama game, Jefferson has seemed tended to revert back to some of his old habits of panicking in the pocket when faced with a rush and then taking sacks as a result.
Several times Jefferson would get the ball and then turn his focus to the rush and bail out of the pocket to only take a sack rather than rolling out and looking for an open receiver to throw to. Dancing in the pocket will not work with these defenses.
I think once Arkansas saw Jefferson was having problems with their rush and LSU's ineffective running game, they just started coming after him and made matters worse.
For some reason Gary Crowton and Les Miles seemed to have changed their game plans for the second half, and LSU began to be playing not to lose rather than trying to win and I think Arkansas picked up on this.
7. Non Effective Defense In The Second Half.
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LSU started out the Arkansas game with a strong pass rush and they were able to get to Mallett several times. In fact, it appear that early on LSU was controlling the feared Arkansas offense much better than anyone expected.
If the defense did not sack him, they put a lot of pressure on him and forced him out of the pocket and caused some poor throws.
Up until Karnell Hatcher's botched attempt on the TD pass to Colbi Hamilton, the LSU defense was doing an excellent job of holding Ryan Mallett and the Arkansas offense in check.
But for some reason, the defense appeared to take a different approach in the second half and they as they were playing a wait and see type defense rather than an attacking defense. Of course I think the defense was tired and that began to tell later in the fourth quarter.
Coupled with missed tackles, good running by Knile Davis, and poor defensive position, the Razorbacks had it all their way with the LSU defense in the second half.
Arkansas ran over six minutes off of the clock in the fourth quarter by just running and running through the LSU defense. I have never seen LSU's defense run on by anybody like that this year.
LSU was well aware of Knile Davis's running ability but they were unable to shut him down and ultimately his 159 yards rushing had a lot to do with preventing any LSU come back in the fourth quarter.
8. Arkansas Game Plan Worked Better Than LSU's.
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Despite watching film and playing against Ryan Mallett last year, the LSU staff was still not able to come up with a complete game plan that was totally effective against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Granted this years Arkansas team is very difficult to plan for as they not only have Ryan Mallett and his NFL arm, but they also have a potent running attack led by Sophomore Knle Davis.
If you concentrate too much on stopping Ryan Mallett, then Davis will rip you for big yardage.
It seems that LSU never did really stop any one part of the Arkansas offense. Though they were tried in the fourth quarter, Knile Davis is every bit as good as advertised.
Arkansas's Bobby Petrino spent much of his time observing the LSU defense and he spotted weaknesses with certain formations. A good example was the 4th-and-3 play where Mallett passed 37 yards to Adams over Tyrann Mathieu the LSU freshman.
Petrino specifically referred to the formation that LSU was in so he called that play on fourth down when LSU was not expecting it.
To finish off the LSU Tigers, the Razorbacks ran very effectively time after time on that tired LSU defense in the fourth quarter.
Also, the Arkansas offensive line dominated LSU's defensive line especially in that fourth quarter, as they ran six minutes off of the clock to prevent any come back by LSU.
Arkansas had to settle for a field goal, but they gave the ball back to LSU with about five minutes to go in the game.
9. Arkansas Out Played LSU In The Second Half.
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We can talk all we want about what shoulda, woulda, and coulda happened, but in the end analysis, Arkansas just out played and out executed LSU in almost every phase of the game.
They certainly out performed them offensively as the score board tells us that, and they played better overall defense as they held LSU to less than 300 yards total offense.
The reason I say Arkansas outplayed LSU in ALMOST every phase of the game ti is because of what LSU's Patrick Peterson, Josh Jasper and Derrick Helton did. All three guys were terrific in their jobs on the LSU Special teams.
But, once all is considered we must come to the conclusion that Arkansas wanted this game more and they played like it.
Coach Bobby Petrino took chances and made plays like someone that expected to win the game, while Les Miles played more like someone trying not to lose.
Obviously, LSU's Jordan Jefferson is not the top line quarterback LSU really needs, but he has played in spurts as long as he has confidence.
So Hats off to the Hogs for a well played game.
10. Arkansas Play Calling Was More Effective
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As we have seen in this game, the Hogs were well prepared and they presented LSU with a balanced attack to defend.
It appeared the LSU was never able to completely stop or control any one element of the Arkansas attack.
In the beginning, LSU put lots of pressure on Ryan Mallett and it appeared they would finally be the team to stop the Hogs.
But, as the game went on the Tigers seemed to lose their grip on the Arkansas offense and they were frustrated and made ineffective by the Arkansas defense.
Bobby Petrino was able to make unexpected calls for very big plays when he wanted and he seemed to have that Arkansas offense moving in high gear.
LSU greatly contributed to Arkansas success by their own mistakes, but we must give Arkansas the credit for making the correct calls and then executing them to bring success.
On the other side, LSU was not able to execute or call correct plays and they soon became predictable to the Arkansas Defense. Jefferson began to panic as he has in the past and LSU's offense became totally ineffective.
While Les Miles was willing to settle for field goals, Bobby Petrino was only will to settle for touchdowns and big ones.
So, Arkansas was the better team on Saturday and so I say congratulations to the Hogs.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
