FAYETTEVILLE -- LSU held Arkansas to 16 rushing yards Saturday and held off the Hogs, 24-17, at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas (2-8, 06 Southeastern Conference) was down, 14-0, before finishing the first half down, 14-3, before 48,950 fans weathering 36-degree weather on Saturday night. The Razorbacks trailed, 24-3, with 3:12 left in the third quarter until quarterback Ty Storey connected with tight end C.J. O'Grady for 11- and 32-yard touchdown passes at the 12:37 and 5:27 marks of the fourth quarter.
O'Grady's touchdown dance to celebrate his second score drew an unsportmsnlike conduct penalty, which forced the Hogs to kick off from their own 20-yard line.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire returned the ensuing kickoff from his 16 to the LSU 41. After LSU quarterback Joe Burrow completed a 14-yard pass on third-and-six to the Arkansas 41, the Tigers (8-2, 5-2) played keep away. LSU drove the ball to Arkansas' 1-yard line by the game's end.
"I thought our team fought hard," Morris said. "There was no quit. We got within a score and we just needed one more stop, but we just couldn't find a way to get that ball back."
The game seemed unlikely to finish close given the game's first three quarters and Arkansas' inability to run the ball.
"We knew LSU has an elite defense," Morris said. "And they definitely showed that. We couldn't run the football. We were poor on first down. I think we averaged two yards on first down. And we were 2 of 12 on third down. That's difficult to move the football when those two areas aren't in sync."
LSU led, 7-0, after the first quarter after Burrow found receiver Justin Jefferson ahead of safety Kamren Curl for a 40-yard touchdown. Jefferson had six catches for 117 yards.
Arkansas defensive end Michael Taylor was flagged for targeting and ejected from the game in the second quarter on a second-and-17 sack that turned into an LSU first down at the Arkansas 14. Nick Brosette then extended the lead with a 12-yard touchdown run to cap a 14-play, 77-yard drive at 7:24 of the second quarter.
Brosette netted 90 of LSU's 164 rushing yards. Burrow, sacked three times, completed 15 of 21 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown without a pick.
The Razorbacks had not advanced beyond its own 41-yard line in the first half until two turns of events set up Connor Limpert's 24-yard field goal with the attempt snapped one second before halftime.
Arkansas forced an LSU punt and benefited from two Tiger penalties to set up at their 36-yard line with 39 seconds remaining in the second quarter. LSU linebacker Michael Divinity flushed Storey from the pocket and dislodged the ball, which safety Grant Delpit recovered.
Burrow intended to throw a pass on the first-down play, but Sosa Agim sacked him and dislodged the ball for senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw to recover and return 24 yards to LSU's 33 with 21 seconds left.
"Sosa was just doing his job and went and got the quarterback and got the ball out," Greenlaw said. "I saw it right there. I had to make sure I picked it first because a lot of times you see people run by the ball and the ball's still rolling.
"So, I made sure to pick it up first. When I finally got going, just this ankle man - I tried to hit another gear and just couldn't do it. Sosa made it happen. I tried to put it in for him but I just couldn't do it.
Backup quarterback Cole Kelley then threw an incomplete pass into the end zone. Storey tried again and connected with senior Jared Cornelius for 27 yards to the 6-yard line.
Storey made one bid for a touchdown pass to O'Grady, but it was batted away with one second to spare. Limpert converted the kick and Arkansas finished the first half with just 61 yards of total offense.
Burrow and Jefferson struck again in the third quarter for a 35-yard pass to put the Tigers on the Arkansas 13. Edwards-Helaire ran in for a score on the next play.
By then "they made us one-dimensional" Morris said of forsaking the run with top running back Rakeem Boyd netting but 30 yards on 10 carries and eventually exiting with an injured ankle.
Storey paid a price. He was officially sacked three times and hit just after throwing on countless occasions, including somehow throwing an incompletion avoiding a sack nearly on his back. Through all of the pressure, Storey was 19 of 38 passing for 200 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
"I thought Ty was tough," Morris said. "He stood in the pocket and he took some hits. The grit that he showed kept us in the game, especially late third quarter into that fourth quarter."
Storey had been sacked on fourth-and-nine from the LSU 39 preceding the Tigers' last score. Cole Tracy's 40-yard field goal was set up Burrow's 26-yard pass to Dee Anderson for the 24-3 lead with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
Storey ignited the Hogs in the fourth quarter with a 31-yard pass to receiver La'Michael Pettway on third-and-10. He then found tight end Grayson Gunter for a 23-yard pass and finally the 11-yard score to O'Grady.
"I think we just got into a rhythm and the offensive line was doing a good job giving us time," Storey said. "And C.J. made some great plays along with some other guys stepped up and made plays. It just felt like we kind of had to get a kick-start to get in rhythm.
"Once we got it going, we put some points on the board. We didn't look very good in the first half. We looked really bad. Thankfully we made some adjustments that kind of opened it up a little bit and started driving it a little bit."
O'Grady caught six passes for 75 yards.
"He obviously made some tremendous catches," Morris said. "I thought the play before, the touchdown before, was close to being unsportsmanlike and I actually addressed it with him on the sidelines.
"I said you have to play smart. My exact words were you've got to be composed. And I knew, I knew that if there was anything remotely close that he was going to get called. We weren't composed."
"Definitely out of control, and that's not going to happen again," O'Grady said. "It was just a very immature move on my part, and it's definitely not going to happen again."
LSU's keep away left the Razorbacks one SEC possession short for the third time in an SEC game while the Tigers took the game's Golden Boot trophy back to Baton Rouge for a third consecutive year.
Sports on 11/12/2018