LSU brings another Top 10 team to Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE — Fresh off a 19-14 win over No. 5 Tennessee the Hogs will host No. 8 LSU on Saturday night in Razorback Stadium.

LSU (5-1, 2-0) enters having defeated Ole Miss 29-26 in overtime Saturday night in Baton Rouge. The lone loss was 27-20 to USC in the season opener. LSU also owns an SEC win over South Carolina 36-33. Sam Pittman expects a battle on Saturday.

“We’re excited to play LSU here at night,” Pittman said. “Another Top 10 program coming in here, and deservedly so. Very well coached. Offensively, (Garrett) Nussmeier is playing really, really well, throwing the ball a lot. And a lot of empty sets, more and more as weeks go by, throwing it more and more, and they should. They’re really good at tackle where they can protect both tackles and really good at wide receiver and tight end as well. So, our defense has a work cut out for them because they’re well-coached and playing extremely well. 

“Defensively, both of their defensive ends are a problem. (Bradyn) Swinson and (Sai’vion) Jones both are really good players. I like their linebacker group. As good as anybody that we played, starting with (Whit) Weeks and then (Greg) Penn and (Major) Burns, they’re really good players. And then (Jardin) Gilbert’s playing really good at safety, making a lot of tackles for them there. Defense is probably what you noticed a little bit more this year, the improvement that they’ve made over last year. And then their special teams are really good as well. They have a great punt returner and kickoff returner. So, they’re in the top ten for a reason because they’re well-coached and big and fast. So, we’re excited about the challenge, but it certainly is a challenge.”

Pittman said he didn’t watch all the LSU-Ole Miss game live.

“I think our staff did,” Pittman said. “I watched the last quarter, I guess, live. Obviously came in yesterday and watched all of it, but I think most of our staff did. I didn’t see it. I was at a concert. I’m going to catch hell for that too. But by the way, so you guys know, we get the tape, you know, and I can watch it in every rep, like, 50 times if I wanted to. My wife wanted to go to a (Tracy Lawrence) concert, so I went. So y’all have fun with that.”

Ole Miss gave up 337 yards passing to Nussmeier, but was able to intercept him twice. Pittman was asked if he saw anything the Hogs might be able to replicate?

“They tried a lot of different things,” Pittman said. “They got pressure on him, he moved up in the pocket there on that last one and threw a dart to tie the game. He is a little bit scary scrambling as well, but he knows where his pocket is. He’s good in the pocket. As this may sound, they want to throw the football but we have to stop their running game and when we have to, they can’t have both of them or we’ll be in trouble. They got a few plays in the running game, got outside in contain, and went for 20 to 30 yards a couple of times. We have to get them.

“They’ll want to be in five-wides but we need to get them to throwing the football, and hopefully we can pick a few of them and get to him and get some negative plays. That’s when Ole Miss was having success; they won first down basically, and when they didn’t, they didn’t have as much success. LSU got two fourth-down conversions on that last drive, and that’s hard to do. But Nussmeier and the receivers, well the whole team, did a nice job at catching the ball and he [Nussmeier] did a great job of stepping up and throwing it.”

Pittman is confident that Travis Williams will have a good plan for LSU. He praised Williams and his staff for the job against Tennessee.

“Well, I think, again I think with T-Will, it’s his second year in this league specifically as the main play caller and at Arkansas,” Pittman said. “I think it makes a difference. You know your opponents a little bit better. With the transfer portal you still don’t know them quite as good as you did in the old days. But I think that those guys have a better understanding of each other and a better understanding of who we have on our team because the plan has to work for what your personnel is. Just because someone else did it doesn’t mean it can work for us because of personnel.

“But I think T-Will and his group in there have done a really good job of understanding who we have, how we can put pressure. How we can stop our opponents and have done a really good job of not being afraid. Because even … like when you first come in you might be afraid to try something because it’s your first true spotlight. And I think we’ve had enough success now where he’s going, ‘OK, this is how we can win. This is what we can do.’ And I think he’s such more comfortable, especially since the success we’ve had of changing some things has worked. We’ll see what happens on Saturday though, but I think that has a lot to do with his confidence.”

Nussmeier has only been sacked twice this season. Pittman explained the success LSU was having in that regard.

“Well, I didn’t know that stat,” Pittman said. “They’re good at tackle. They’re really good at tackle. They’re good at him being able to step up because their guards and center, they’re big, their guard and their center. But he gets rid of the ball, gets rid of it fast. Knows where he’s on his reads. So that’s why to me. And he has a quick release. That’s probably why he’s had as few of sacks, along with I think their backs are good in protection, when they use them. Now a lot of times they’ll empty out. And I think that their edge, their tackles are extremely good players.”

All four games involving LSU have ended in a 3-point margin since Pittman has been at Arkansas. Pittman is 1-3 against LSU.

“I believe it’s going to be a close game,” Pittman said. “They have a really good team, and so do we. I think it’ll come down to turnovers, or whatever. We’ve got to play a smart game. A physical game, because they’re very, very physical. We have high respect for them. I think it’ll be one helluva game to come watch.”

This season, Nussmeier has completed 160 of 249 passes for 1,989 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. Pittman talked about what makes the LSU quarterback so good.

“Well, along with they can protect him and they have really good wideouts and tight ends, it will affect what we try to do against him,” Pittman said. “We have high respect, he’s a really good thrower. So, but, those other guys that you’re talking about, besides Marcel Reed — because he hadn’t had as much game time even this year, he didn’t start as a starter — we thought those other guys and we thought he was too because they all three are really good players. It’s probably still the same thing, you got to move the guy from where he wants to throw the ball from. You have to get in his face, you have to push the pocket. We just know that Nussmeier is older and with that, sometimes becomes wiser. So, I don’t know how much it’ll affect it though, to be honest with you.”

Wide receiver Kyren Lacy has caught 30 passes for 463 yards and six touchdowns on the season.

“His ability to control his body,” Pittman said. “He can go over the top of you. He can stop on a dime. Probably that, his route running. He’s got everything but it’s amazing he replaced who they had, other great wide receivers. Him catching the back shoulder there at the end, really good play. The thing about Lacy is, if you look at that game and I don’t know what it was, maybe play 15, 14, 21, somewhere in there. It looks like he gets hit, it looks like he can’t even come back. He goes out a play, comes back. He must be tougher than nails. He came back and then caught, I don’t know how many balls, a bunch in the game and the winner. It’s just his ability. He’s got natural ball skills but he can control his body as good as anyone I’ve seen.”

The Hogs and LSU will kickoff at 6 p.m. Saturday night and televised on ESPN. The Mississippi State game Saturday, Oct. 26, will kickoff at 11:45 a.m. on the SEC Network.