BATON ROUGE — It’s down to a one-game season for LSU as the 12th-ranked Tigers head to Little Rock to face an Arkansas in need of one win to become bowl-eligible for the seventh straight season.
At 5-5 overall, the Razorbacks need a win in Friday’s season-finale to become bowl-eligible. The Tigers on the other hand go into Friday’s matchup with the Razorbacks needing another win to improve their bowl prospects. At 8-2 overall, the Tigers are all but guaranteed a spot in a New Year’s Day bowl for a school-record fourth straight year.
LSU, winners of five straight, haven’t won in Little Rock since a 17-7 victory in 1996. Houston Nutt is a perfect 15-0 in games played in Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, which includes a 14-3 win over the Tigers in 2000 and a 21-20 last-minute win over LSU in 2002.
Kickoff for the LSU-Arkansas contest is set for 1:40 p.m. The game will be televised to a national audience by CBS with Craig Bolerjack and Spencer Tillman handling the call.
Almost lost in the hype of another LSU-Arkansas matchup is “The Boot”, a 24-karat gold trophy in the shape of Louisiana and Arkansas. LSU is currently in possession of the trophy following last year’s 55-24 win in Tiger Stadium. “The Boot” will sit on the LSU sidelines during the game and will be awarded to the winning team following the contest.
“This is a one-game season for us,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “Bigger than that, this is a game in and of itself relative to the circumstance that we are going into, and I think everybody has to have a mindset that it’s kind of a one-game season just like we look at a bowl game.
We’ve got to get ourselves prepared to play probably our best football of the season on the road to be able to have success there.”
While the Tigers continue to search for consistency on offense, Arkansas leaves little to doubt as to who makes its offense run and that’s quarterback Matt Jones. Jones, a senior, ranks first in SEC history in rushing yards for a quarterback with over 2,500 for his career, This year, Jones leads the Razorbacks in both rushing and passing.
“Matt Jones, who seems like he’s been playing there for a long, long time to me, is certainly a guy that makes their offense go,” Saban said. “He makes plays in so many ways, whether it’s to run the option or throwing the ball effectively. They’ve done a very good job of improving their passing game this year. He scrambles and makes plays, he scrambles and makes throws and they have one of the best running games in the league primarily because of what they do in the option game as well as their ability to run the ball.”
The Tigers will defend the Arkansas offensive attack with the nation’s third-best defense, one that is allowing only 250 yards per game and just 16 points per contest. Defensive end Marcus Spears leads the Tigers and ranks among the SEC leaders with 15 tackles for losses and seven sacks.
When the Tigers have the ball, they will rely on the running of Alley Broussard and Joseph Addai, along with the passing of quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and Marcus Randall. Broussard, this week’s SEC Offensive Player of the Week, is coming off a school-record 250 yards rushing against Ole Miss, while Addai added 107 yards in the 27-24 win over the Rebels.