Arkansas vs. LSU Football: Did Les Miles Run It Up?

When the Tigers hosted the Razorbacks today, many expected the game to be close until the end. Arkansas was expected to bring their high-powered passing offense to the Bayou and create some havoc while LSU would create some turnovers and drive the ground game to victory.

What started to look like a route in Arkansas’ favor was quickly turned by a punt return that went 92 yards and for a touchdown as Tyrann Mathieu blasted through the Razorbacks' special-teams unit. That brought the game to 14-14 and that was as close as the Razorbacks would get to victory.

LSU took a 21-14 lead into halftime and looked to be taking over the game when the teams departed for the locker room. When Arkansas returned from the tunnel, they took the ball down the field and put a field goal on the board, which would be their last points of the game.

LSU returned the favor with a field goal of their own with 2:14 left in the third quarter. The score was 24-17. Early into the fourth quarter the Tigers took two quick drives into the end zone with a short seven-yard run by Spencer Ware, and then a long run of 48 yards from Jordan Jefferson on a zone-read play.

With a comfortable lead of 38-17, the Tigers had clearly won the football game and would march on to Atlanta for a chance at winning the SEC title. When LSU got the ball back, however, they pushed forward and scored their final points with a field goal with 5:08 left in the fourth quarter.

Bobby Petrino was becoming obviously irritated with LSU’s tactics at the end as LSU continued to push for points until the final whistle blew. There was even an uneasy exchange between Petrino and Les Miles after the game concluded.

So with the game signed, sealed and delivered, was it too much for the Tigers to push forward and continue to try and score? It is one thing to play against a far inferior opponent and take a knee with five minutes left in the game, but against the No. 3 team in the country, you have to play to the final whistle as at any moment they can score.

Did Les Miles run up the score? Sure he did, but he did it for all the right reasons. When you are coaching a football team in an elite conference and are fighting against a team that was up 14-0 on you in the first quarter, every point matters.

For anyone to be irritated or frustrated about how Les Miles handled the end of this game shows that they didn’t watch that football game. Arkansas was explosive to start, and given the opportunity could have covered a lot of ground quickly. Get over it if you don’t like watching a team play to potential—Miles made the right decision.