Instant Reactions: LSU 34, Arkansas 10

That’s how ya do it

All things considered, this might be the most impressive win of the Brian Kelly era.

Coming off a major, emotional win over Ole Miss and heading to a rival who views this game as their Super Bowl, LSU (6-1, 3-0) never trailed and suffocated the Arkansas Razorbacks (4-3, 2-2) 34-10 to keep The Boot in Baton Rouge.

Caden Durham had a 101 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns, while Garrett Nussmeier was cool, calm, and collected going 22-33 for 224 yards. After a rough outing against Ole Miss, Nuss played mistake-free football tonight: no sacks, no picks, no real mistakes to speak of.

LSU got the ball to start the game and scored a touchdown. In fact they would score on seven of the 10 times they possessed the ball and never had a three and out.

Penalties nearly undid LSU’s first drive, as a Mason Taylor touchdown was nullified by a Kyren Lacy offensive pass interference call. LSU was then backed up five more yards by a Taylor false start, but Durham saved the day with a 22-yard touchdown run.

If there is a complaint from tonight, it’s penalties, LSU was penalized 11 times and incredibly eight of them were false starts. Penalties derailed LSU’s next two drives, and the Tigers had to settle for a pair Damien Ramos field goals to make it a 13-0 game.

With LSU having to settle for field goals on its next two drives the door was open for Arkansas to claw back into the game and the Razorbacks were able to score a touchdown to make it 13-7. LSU and Arkansas then traded field goals to make it a 16-10 game and LSU had to punt on its opening possession of the second half.

Pinned at its two yard line, Arkansas got the ball with a chance to make LSU sweat. Instead, Whit Weeks channeled his inner Tyrann Mathieu vs. West Virginia and tipped a pass to himself.

LSU had numerous opportunities to put the game away in the first half but couldn’t quite come away with the knockout blow. This time around, however, the punch would land and Durham found the end zone for the second time on the night.

Nussmeier would then hit freshman tight end/wide receiver Trey’Dez Green in the back of the end zone on a two-point attempt to give LSU the full 14-point edge.

Arkansas wouldn’t be able to do anything with its next offensive possession and had to punt the ball away again. LSU’s offense stalled out, but not before they drove 50 yards over the course of eight plays and Ramos would kick his fourth field goal of the night. Ramos was money tonight. He was 4-4 on his field goals, hitting two from 33, 47, and 48 yards out.

LSU also had maybe its most impressive drive of the season in the fourth quarter of tonight’s game. Leading 27-10 and 10:20 to play, LSU went on a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took nearly eight and half minutes off of the game clock. The drive was capped off by Durham’s third touchdown of the night. Even more impressive? Eleven of those 14 plays were runs.

LSU’s run game finally showed up tonight. The Tigers ran the ball 37 times for 158 yards at 4.3 yards a clip. Durham had 100 yards, while Kaleb Jackson and Josh Williams had 48 yards on 10 combined carries. Zavion Thomas got a carry, and Nuss even kept it once and gained five yards.

The LSU defense was, for a second week in a row, excellent. Whit Weeks was everywhere for a second week in a row and he finished with nine tackles, a sack, a TFL, and his game-changing interception. Paris Shand also had a sack and a TFL, while Jay’Viar Suggs and Dahvon Keys each combined for half a sack, and half a TFL. Greg Penn and Javien Toviano each forced fumbles. All told, LSU had three sacks, three TFLs, and forced three turnovers.

Penalties aside, there’s not a lot to complain about from tonight. LSU’s keeping The Boot in Baton Rouge for the third straight season, and for the first time since 2019 the LSU-Arkansas game was decided by more than seven points. But from a macro perspective, this is a team that’s clearly getting better each and every week. The defense is playing fast and causing mayhem, and for the first time all season were were able to see LSU salt a game away by running the ball.

Defense and controlling the line of scrimmage travels and it better because next up LSU has a monster game against Texas A&M. Don’t look now, y’all but A&M and LSU are the only two SEC teams without a conference loss, meaning if the Tigers are able to get out of College Station with a win, they’ll be in a really good position to get to Atlanta and maybe even the College Football Playoff.