Sporting Life Arkansas

Live with Jim Harris: LSU at Arkansas

  It’s game day: LSU at Arkansas. The forecast is for cold weather, but there’s no better time than tonight on ESPN 2 starting at 7:00 for the Hogs to grab their first SEC win of the Bret Bielema Era. Jim Harris will be posting his thoughts throughout the game here, so check this page often. (Scroll down about halfway and you’ll see the posts from Jim.) FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –Versatile dual-threat quarterback Matt Jones will return to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium to serve as the A Club honorary captain for the LSU game on Saturday, Nov.15. A four-year letterwinner from 2001-04, Jones passed for 5,857 yards in his career, good for fourth-most in program history, while rushing for 2,535 yards to rank eighth all-time. He also threw for 53 touchdown passes, placing him third all-time in program history, while running for 24 touchdowns, which is eighth all-time. He was a 2004 All-SEC second-team selection by the coaches. Jones led a memorable comeback against LSU in 2002. With the Razorbacks trailing by six and less than a minute to go, Jones led Arkansas on a 3-play, 81-yard drive capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass to WR DeCori Birmingham with nine seconds remaining. Arkansas took down the Tigers, 21-20. The Fort Smith, Ark. native served as team captain in 2004 and during his four years helped the Razorbacks compile a team record of 30-20 (.600), while appearing in three bowl games. Following his career at Arkansas, Jones was drafted in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars as a wide receiver. His statistics during his four-year NFL career include 2,153 yards and 15 touchdowns. The A Club honorary captain is recognized before each home game for their outstanding accomplishments on the field during their Razorback career. Before kickoff, they will be recognized and will accompany the captains to midfield for the coin toss. The Razorbacks will host the No. 20 LSU Tigers. LSU at Arkansas  
10:08 p.m. 17-0 Arkansas, final — That’s it. Students are slowing but surely storming the field and the Hogs en masse rushed to get The Boot. We’ll be back with stats and such shortly. Don’t forget the Hogzone on Channel 11 in Little Rock. Joe Adams will be with us along with Clint Stoerner, Mary Dunleavy and myself.
9:55 p.m. 17-0 Arkansas — I don’t think Arkansas defense can be denied now. Can Hog fans imagine how far this defense has come since Aug. 30? The front four was especially an angry chasing bunch on LSU’s likely last hope, which started on the 20. QB Anthony Jennings was dumped for a 15-yard loss, then was barely able to get a yard on third down before the Tigers had to punt it out. Mitch Loewen and Deatrich Wise brought the heat on the big sack, while Wise and Darius Philon chased Jennings down on third down, giving him one rough landing on the cold turf.
9:45 p.m. 17-0 Arkansas — Jim Chaney always gives us something to wonder about. On third and 2 and in a position to just run the ball and run the clock under 6 minutes, Chaney sends in a PASS play for Brandon Allen to throw it away. I guess he saw some kind of wide open deal or expected it to salt the game away, but LSU had everything covered. So Arkansas probably saved LSU 40 seconds, didn’t get a first down simply by running Collins again, and LSU can still pull off what would really be the ultimate in gut-wrenching comebacks against the Hogs in the final 6:30.
9:40 p.m. — Huge play to stop LSU on a drive in Arkansas territory, going underneath Arkansas’s somewhat “prevent” defense. LSU took one deep shot on the first snap to keep the safeties back (Jared Collins, stepping up, defended well again). So, Anthony Jennings started taking the underneath openings, plus carrying on his own across midfield. Arkansas was playing linebacker Martrelle Spaight too deep, in my opinion, considering how much he meant more in corralling Jennings. So, with the ball on Arkansas’s 27 again, Jennings kept at right end but Spaight met him and forced the first LSU fumble of the game. Tackle Darius Philon ran it down for the Hogs 19 with 8:21 to play.
9:29 p.m. 17-0 Arkansas — Alex Collins finds an opening at right guard-right tackle, stumbles over tacklers and steps into the end zone from 5 yards out to extend Arkansas’s lead to three scores. Adam McFain converts the extra point and Arkansas just ate up 6:16 of the clock driving 55 yards following a punt. Brandon Allen is playing his best SEC game as a Razorback, and this drive was the evidence. He found A.J. Derby for a key first down on a third-down pass to move the ball into LSU territory on the first play of the fourth quarter. On a third-and-11 after a screwed-up snap to “wildhog” Alex Collins on second down, Allen drilled one to Keon Hatcher at the left sideline for 14 yards to the 14. Two Jonathan Williams runs pushed it to the 5 for a third-and-1, bringing on Collins to hit the end zone. Still, 11 minutes remain from a long-awaited Hog win in the SEC, but I’m not sure Arkansas has led LSU by 17 points since 1998.