Kelly lauds LSU’s four-quarter effort against Arkansas to keep Golden Boot another year

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – The Golden Boot will continue to have some cajun seasoning to it.

LSU extended its winning streak over Arkansas to three and have now won eight of the last nine games in a rivalry dubbed the Battle for the Golden Boot after finishing off a 34-10 win over the Razorbacks on Saturday night.

The trophy game win has the Tigers (6-1, 3-0) tied atop the SEC standings with Texas A&M (6-1, 3-0), two teams that play in College Station next weekend and the two the Razorbacks (4-3, 2-2) have lost league games to this season.

“It was great to come down here and play the kind of football we did today, which was control the line of scrimmage,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “They had 38 yards rushing and for us to run the football and close out the game with 8 minutes and 20 seconds and virtually running the ball on every down.

“Those are the things you look for on football teams that are emerging as a contender. So proud of our group, proud of the way that prepared for this games and certainly when you go own the road and win in an SEC venue, certainly a lot of things are coming together for our football team.”

The win came before 75,893 fans, a homecoming crowd that was the fourth largest crowd in Reynolds Razorback Stadium history and one that seemed to bother LSU into some penalties early on.

“We made some mistakes on the first drive quite frankly and I think our guys were a little distracted emotionally and they were so charged up,” Kelly said. “We made some errors and we settled down and I think what happened after that was guys did their job they way they were supposed to do it when they needed to do it.”

It also earned Kelly a $500,000 bonus for getting LSU bowl eligible and means his salary for this season will reach at least $10.475 million.

“Certainly, a lot of things are coming together for our football team,” Kelly said. “I thought we had four quarters of LSU football for the first time.

“…Now we hav got to do to it again against a rally good Texas A&M team at their place. “I know this was homecoming. I’m sue they will schedule homecoming against us, too. It just seems like we get everybody’s homecoming. Maybe next year, they’ll think about not making us homecoming anymore.”

With the visitors up 16-10, LSU took command of the game when Whit Weeks intercepted a Taylen Green pass at the Arkansas 5 and returned it to the 2.

Caden Durham scored on the next play for the second of this three touchdowns on a night when he rushed 21 times for 101 yards in the contest.

Weeks, wearing injured and out for the season Tiger Harold Perkins’ No. 40 jersey, had nine tackles, a sack and the momentum-changing turnover, a week after having 18 tackles in an overtime home win against Ole Miss.

“Whit Weeks’ deflection and interception was apparently the back breaker in the game,” Kelly said. “Great victory and now we will get 24 hours to enjoy it and then we’ll get back on the road and play the best team in the SEC right now. The only team other than us that is undefeated and another great challenge.”

It was the second of three turnovers on the night for Arkansas, who did have one in its 19-14 home win over No. 4 Tennessee two Saturdays ago ahead of a bye last Saturday.

“We are getting those big plays and now we are turning them into turnovers,” Kelly said. “There were some physical hits out there. We jarred the ball loose. They weren’t sloppy put the ball on the ground turnovers. They were physical hits and they were great play.

“…Sometimes you make those things happen and we didn’t luck into them. Those were made with pressures.

Green was 21 of 31 passing for 239 yards with a touchdown and an interception and Andrew Armstrong caught 7 passes for 94 yards.

But the Razorbacks rushed for just 38 yards while LSU piled up 158, rolled up a 384-277 total offense advantage and scored all five times it was in the Red Zone.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier was 22 of 33 for 224 yards while CJ Daniels caught 7 passes for 96 yards and field goal kicker Damian Ramos was 4 for 4 on field goal attempts.

“The game ball went out to Damian Ramos,” Kelly said. “I thought while the game was still in the balance, I thought he helped us stay ahead of it and keep the momentum and then we made some big plays.”

Photo by John D. James