If you live long enough, you’ll see just about everything.
In other words, if you live long enough, you’ll live to see a football team win
a game by 32 points despite failing to gain a first down in the entire first
half.

Yes, the LSU Tigers are clearly the No. 1 team in college
football, a team that – before its bowl game begins – has already achieved more
than any other team in the country, and frankly cannot be surpassed. Yet, it’s
amazing to contemplate the notion that the best team in America in 2011 could
not move the chains even once in the first half of Saturday’s SEC title tilt
against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Let’s allow these simple numbers – and the mind-blowing
realities behind them – to sink in for a little bit: The LSU Tigers’ offense
didn’t gain 100 yards until the five-minute mark of the third quarter against
Georgia this past weekend in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. That’s 40 game minutes of
action in which LSU simply stalled against the Bulldogs’ determined defense.

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More numbers, please: LSU’s offense gained all of 12 yards
in the first half without a first down as part of the package. Tiger
quarterback Jordan Jefferson played poorly – he was lost throughout the first
half, and he displayed absolutely no touch on his passes. LSU mounted only one
touchdown drive of more than 26 yards in the first three quarters of the SEC
Championship Game, a testament to Georgia’s resilience but also a reflection of
LSU’s manifest limitations. Indeed, what’s striking about LSU’s 13-0 season is
that it has come about despite less-than-fully-convincing performances at the
quarterback spot. LSU’s quarterbacks have not turned the ball over many times
this season – that’s the secret to the Bayou Bengals’ success – but LSU’s
offense has certainly not been a marvel in every way, shape or form – not by
any stretch.

Why is LSU so good, then? For all of its offensive impotence, this fact still
existed on Saturday: at the end of the third quarter, the SEC West champions
led by 18 points and had already broken the spirit of their SEC East foe.

As soon as LSU punt returner Tyrann Mathieu uncorked his second big return of
the game to put LSU inside the Georgia 30 in a game the Tigers led 14-10 midway
through the third quarter, one could smell the impending knockout punch. LSU’s
offense never had to move the ball more than 26 yards to score any of its first
three touchdowns, meaning that when the Tigers accumulated a 21-10 lead after
two and a half quarters of play, they had done nothing on offense. Georgia
couldn’t cope with that reality, and when LSU finally put together a 70-yard
march late in the third for a 28-10 lead, the game was over. A team whose
offense looked laughably bad for two and a half quarters owned total control of
the proceedings.

That’s how special LSU is in 2011. The SEC West champions
are now SEC champions as well. Many people think that since they’re going to
play Alabama a second time on Jan. 9, they should be crowned national champions
right now.

It’s hard to argue otherwise.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

College football is nothing if not a complicated and
manifestly unfair sport. The LSU Tigers have fought through a lot of unfairness
this season, and they just need to do so one more time this weekend inside the
Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

As the whole nation knows, LSU has achieved far more than
any other college football team in 2011. The Bayou Bengals have the best pair
of non-conference wins in the country – Oregon and West Virginia – and they’ve
beaten their two foremost rivals in the SEC West Division, Alabama and
Arkansas. LSU is certain to play in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game on
January 9 in New Orleans, but the Tigers know that they could very well face
the Alabama Crimson Tide in a rematch of their Nov. 5 matchup in Tuscaloosa.
The prospect of a rematch would in many ways make the season a mockery of a
travesty of a sham, especially for coach Les Miles’s team.

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The win over Alabama was supposed to mean something, but if
the Tide go to the national title game and get a do-over against LSU, the loss
will actually wind up being beneficial for Bama. So what if the Crimson Tide
failed to win their division or conference? So what if coach Nick Saban’s team
didn’t schedule tough teams out of conference, with the sole exception of a
decent but hardly impressive Penn State squad? The possibility of an
LSU-Alabama rematch spits in the face of the Tigers, who will be playing this
weekend’s SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs while Alabama
rests. If Bama is picked for the final, crowning game of the college football
bowl season, LSU will have much to complain about… just as the Tigers would have
had a lot to gripe about if they had lost to Arkansas on Nov. 25 and lost out
in the national championship sweepstakes.

However, LSU knows that it has overcome all obstacles in
this 2011 season. The Tigers have endured a rocky journey at the quarterback
spot, coming up with enough plays in all three phases of competition to amass a
12-0 record against a formidable slate of opponents. The Bayou Bengals need to
realize that while Alabama might receive an undue reward in a few days, LSU is
playing for something Alabama can’t have: the championship of America’s most
credentialed collegiate football conference. Indeed, the motivation for LSU –
already guaranteed a spot in the national championship game – is to win an SEC
title and claim unquestioned superiority in its own backyard first.

The key to this game obviously starts and ends with Georgia.
The Bulldogs have to throw down something special just to stay in the
conversation. Coach Mark Richt’s team is on a 10-game winning streak after
starting the season 0-2. However, Georgia never had to play any of the SEC’s
top three teams: LSU, Alabama and Arkansas. Georgia will finally receive an
A-grade test within its own conference, so the Dawgs have to play their very
best game just to have a chance. The one player who must therefore exhibit
complete mastery in Atlanta is quarterback Aaron Murray. For much of September
and October, Murray was a young man in search of rhythm and confidence. After
leading his team to a come-from-behind win over Florida on Oct. 29 – in a game
that transformed Georgia’s season and enabled the Bulldogs to wrest the SEC
East title away from South Carolina – Murray has genuinely flourished. He made
hardly any mistakes in a brilliant month of November, and if he can provide a
masterclass against LSU on the first weekend of December, his team will have a
chance.

If not, the best team in the United States will officially
win the championship of the best conference in the United States.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

LSU 41, Arkansas 17

The LSU Tigers had won 11 games in 11 outings this season.
They had defeated the Pac-12’s best team, the Oregon Ducks, on a neutral field.
They had defeated the possible champions of the Big East, West Virginia, on the
road. They had won at Alabama in the so-called “Game of the Century.” They had
done far more than any other college football team in the United States.

And yet, they needed to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks last
Friday afternoon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Had they not been able to pull off
the feat, they might have been excluded from both the SEC Championship Game and
the BCS title game because of BCS rankings. LSU might have done more than any
other team in the nation, but if it lost a late-season game with everyone
watching, the Tigers might have dropped in the polls, just enough to give
Alabama or Arkansas the right to face Georgia for the SEC title.

It would have been so unfair. However, LSU avoided that
disastrous scenario and prevailed one more time, thereby securing its place in
Atlanta for the SEC’s final showdown on December 3… and probably booking its
ticket to New Orleans for the big one on January 9, 2012.

What made this drama against Arkansas so compelling is that
for a period of time, it seemed that LSU’s dream of a national title really
would die. Arkansas had LSU trapped in the second quarter. Coach Les Miles’s
team was lost and floundering. If LSU, down 14-0, did not find a way to change
the trajectory of this tussle against coach Bobby Petrino’s Hogs, it would have
suffered a disappointment that’s hard to measure or easily summarize. The No. 1
team in America had accomplished far more than anyone else in the nation
through its first 11 games, but it needed to win a 12th game to secure a berth
in the BCS title tilt. That’s unfair, but LSU still had to respond whether it
approved of the BCS or not.

The fact that the Tigers pulled through only magnifies their bona-fides.

A few moments loomed large on Friday. LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson
scrambled out of trouble to avoid a huge loss that would have debilitated a
drive. Safety and punt returner Tyrann Mathieu once again starred for the Bayou
Bengals, returning a punt 92 yards for a touchdown to lift his team into a
14-all tie, and then creating a fumble which LSU parlayed into a 21-14 lead.
The Tigers came up with a big defensive stand in the red zone to prevent
Arkansas from creating a 21-all tie in the third quarter, and it motored to the
finish line by scoring the game’s final 20 points.

The biggest play in this game was the play that allowed LSU to begin the long
comeback from a 14-0 deficit. LSU was about to face a 3rd and 6 in its own
territory.

However, a personal foul face-mask penalty by the Hogs spared LSU. Jefferson
calmed down after that play and began to show the full dimensions of his
football talents. Once LSU stopped panicking, a tsunami ensued, and by the end
of the day, Arkansas drowned underneath its crashing force.

LSU is back in the SEC title game and back on track to lift
the crystal at the end of this season. One big comeback against Arkansas
avoided a brush with the unfairness of the BCS.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Vanderbilt 41, Wake Forest 7

Life can change very quickly. Just ask the elated members of
the Vanderbilt football team.

On a Saturday afternoon in the Carolinas that was decidedly sleepy
for a Wake Forest side which had already completed its conference schedule, the
Vanderbilt Commodores still needed to play their best football in order to
prevail. Sitting at 5-6 and trying to make a bowl game for the second time in
four seasons, coach James Franklin’s players had to stack together big plays at
Groves Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Commodores needed to
demonstrate just how far they’d come since their 2-10 nightmare last season.
Vanderbilt was expected to beat Tennessee and lock down a bowl bid in week 12,
but the Dores cracked under late-game pressure. This game wasn’t a rivalry
showdown or a heavily hyped game against an elite SEC foe, but Vanderbilt
needed to leave town with a win in order for this season to be viewed as a
complete success.

Through the first 20 minutes of competition, it was entirely
reasonable to think that Vandy, the ultimate slip-on-a-banana-peel program – a
school which had made just four bowl games in its history and only three since
1955 – would fall short of the postseason once again. Cognizant of the pressure
it faced, and all too aware of the high stakes involved, the Dores played a
tight and nerve-addled game. Wake Forest took a 7-6 lead early in the second
quarter on a 10-yard scoring strike from quarterback Tanner Price to Terence
Davis. When the clock hit the 10-minute mark of the second stanza, Vanderbilt
had nothing to show for the first 20 minutes. It made sense to expect a
razor-close contest at that point. A bowl bid was likely to be decided in the
final minutes.

Then, however, everything changed on a dime, and with it,
Vanderbilt’s season found the affirming moment it so deeply hungered for.

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In one minute and 50 seconds, a stalemate turned into a
romp, as Vanderbilt found the offensive potency and big-play lightning which
have marked the best new face of Mr. Franklin’s identity, the most shining
example of how the first-year coach has taken VU from the outhouse to – no, not
the penthouse – a comfortable middle-class home in the suburbs.

Vanderbilt put together a nerve-calming touchdown drive and
finished it on a Zac Stacy (184 yards on 28 carries with three scores) one-yard
run with 6:55 left in the second quarter. Vanderbilt’s energized defense,
delighted at what it had seen from its offense, produced an immediate
three-and-out to sustain momentum. Then, on Vanderbilt’s very next offensive
play, tight end Brandon Barden leaped over Wake Forest defenders to produce a
brilliant and bold 73-yard touchdown play, a catch-and-run masterpiece initiated
by a pass from quarterback Jordan Rodgers. Vandy gained a 20-7 lead and left
Wake Forest’s defense in a state of shock. The reeling Demon Deacons couldn’t
pick their jaws off the floor for the rest of the first half, and when Stacy
zoomed into the end zone from 20 yards out with just 37 ticks left on the
clock, the Dores had blown the doors off the Deacs. With a 27-7 lead at
halftime, Vanderbilt had crushed Wake’s willpower, and the game had essentially
ended.

Vanderbilt is in a bowl game. This was not expected at the
beginning of the season, and it wasn’t even expected after the collapse against
Tennessee.

Things change quickly. The Commodores are being transformed
in ways large and small by the leadership and guidance of their first-year head
coach.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 17

The Georgia Bulldogs had the chance to look ahead to LSU and
the SEC Championship Game. They had the chance to look past the Georgia Tech
Yellow Jackets and focus on the event that would give them a chance to make a
BCS bowl in 2011. Rivalry games matter, but the prospect of getting a crack at
the No. 1 team in the United States could have made the Bulldogs a little
distracted this past Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.

Instead, Georgia devoted its full focus and fury to its old
rival from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgia Tech got Georgia’s best
punch, and that fact in and of itself made all the difference on a day that
reaffirmed the transformation which has taken place within the University of
Georgia’s football program.

Remember the 0-2 start? Remember the vultures circling over
coach Mark Richt’s head on September 10 of this year? Georgia seemed on the
brink of collapse, and Richt’s career in Athens was teetering on the precipice,
just one slight push from seeing his immensely successful tenure come to an
end. Georgia entered the 2011 season without an SEC East title since 2005, and
it had not made a BCS bowl since the 2007 season. The natives were
understandably restless, given the stature and history of the Georgia program.
When the Dawgs lost their first two games of the year, Richt’s seat was hotter
than molten lava.

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Now look where the Dawgs and Richt stand. This win over
Georgia Tech, a convincing two-touchdown smackdown, enables Georgia to claim a
10-game winning streak and a 10-2 record within its 12 regularly scheduled
games this season. Georgia has earned the right to play an extra (13th) game
against LSU, a game the Bulldogs might very well lose, but the reality of a
10-win regular season has reaffirmed Richt’s hold on his job. The 2011 campaign
has become a transformative year in the life of a program and its esteemed
sideline leader.

Georgia simply outclassed Georgia Tech, and the main reason
for the lopsided nature of this game was UGA quarterback Aaron Murray. The
growing and always-developing signal caller has rounded into form this year. He
shredded Georgia Tech’s secondary by completing just under two thirds of his
passes (19 of 29) for 252 yards, nearly 14 yards per completion. Murray went
vertical, not horizontal, with his passing game, and Tech’s back seven couldn’t
keep up. Georgia stayed in the air and gained results against an opponent which
– due to its triple-option offense – doesn’t get to practice against formidable
passers. This reality emerged in strong relief on Saturday. Georgia bolted to a
14-3 lead midway through the second quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass from
Murray to Chris Conley. After Tech closed within seven points (17-10) at the
half, Murray led Georgia on a touchdown drive just 96 seconds into the third
quarter to immediately consolidate Georgia’s position of leverage. Georgia Tech
is not built to erase large deficits, so when Murray threw his fourth and final
touchdown pass of the day to give the Dawgs a 31-10 lead with 2:57 left in the
third quarter, the boys from Athens found their kill shot. The Jackets had been
stung far more times than they could ever allow.

Georgia didn’t look ahead to LSU… the Dawgs simply took care
of business and will now greet the Tigers with a 10-2 record instead of an
upset loss hanging around their necks. Yes, this has been a different kind of
season Between the Hedges.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Kentucky 10, Tennessee 7

There are upsets, and then there are upsets. Even though the
Tennessee Volunteers entered Saturday afternoon’s game against the Kentucky
Wildcats with a meager 5-6 record, the Big Orange figured to deliver a beatdown
in the game formerly known as the “Beer Barrel” rivalry.

Instead, Kentucky left Tennessee crying in its beer. Big
Blue regularly beats Big Orange on the basketball court, but for the first time
since 1984, the Wildcats topped the Vols in football competition, delivering a
jolt to the SEC and its bowl lineup.

Tennessee was about to punch its ticket for a bowl game.
Coach Derek Dooley’s team, at 4-6, rallied to defeat Vanderbilt in overtime on
Nov. 19 to seemingly pass its stiffest test on the way to bowl eligibility. When
the Volunteers entered Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, they
figured that they’d leave the ballyard with a 6-6 mark and the right to gain 15
days of crucial December practices, practices that would allow the program to
build for next year and eventually restore the school’s proud football
tradition. Former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin left the Vols in disrepair when
he bolted for USC at the end of the 2009 season, so when the Vols stood one win
away from a bowl appearance, they didn’t care if the postseason pageant was a
fourth-tier affair. Merely playing in any kind of bowl offered value to the
Vols.

The very same Volunteers were supposed to roll over
Kentucky, especially since the Wildcats took to the gridiron without their top
two quarterbacks, the injury-riddled tandem of Maxwell Smith and Morgan Newton.
Matt Roark, a wide receiver for UK, took the reins at quarterback and used a
pistol offense run formation to try to generate offense. The pistol scored only
10 points for Big Blue, largely because Roark was barely able to throw the ball
(four completions for 15 total yards). Based on Kentucky’s level of production,
this game should have been easy pickings for Tennessee.

Instead, it turned into a nightmare.

Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray threw two interceptions
while his teammate, receiver Rajion Neal, fumbled from a wildcat formation at
the Kentucky 8 in the third quarter of a game that the Cats led 3-0 at the
time. UK made Tennessee pay dearly for the Neal fumble when CoShik Williams barreled
into the end zone from six yards out with 14:12 left in regulation. The play
frankly shouldn’t have been possible, because Roark fumbled just before it.
However, SEC officials and the replay booth both felt that Roark was down
before he coughed up the ball. Kentucky ran with that bit of good fortune and
held off Tennessee down the stretch to win for the first time against the Vols
in 27 years.

Tennessee won’t make a bowl, and one of the more inept
Kentucky offenses in recent memory still managed to beat its longtime nemesis
from Knoxville.

Wonders never cease in the world of college football.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Alabama 42, Auburn 14

Many people wondered if the Alabama Crimson Tide should have
been a 21-point favorite on the road against an archrival that wanted to pull
off an upset in the worst possible way. Steadily and with the power that has
defined coach Nick Saban’s program ever since he found his footing in
Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide justified their status as a runaway favorite. Dixie’s
football pride brought the wood to the hapless and helpless Auburn Tigers,
ensuring a BCS bowl and, quite possibly, a spot in the 2012 BCS National
Championship Game in New Orleans on January 9.

The key to this game was, in many ways, the performance of
Alabama’s coaching staff, particularly on offense. Alabama offensive
coordinator Jim McElwain set the tone for this game with his combinations and
his scripting on the Crimson Tide’s second offensive possession. Alabama
figured to be able to lean on Auburn and pound the ball as the third and fourth
quarters unfolded, and actually, that’s what the Tide were able to do behind
the bulldozing running of the brilliant Trent Richardson, who finished with 203
yards and likely secured a spot as one of the 2011 Heisman Trophy finalists.
However, before the third and fourth quarters arrived, the Tide did face a
problem: If they couldn’t throw the ball down the field, would the running game
and Richardson become available? Alabama’s brain trust – McElwain in particular
- decided that in order to achieve a foremost set of game-long objectives in
the latest edition of the Iron Bowl, it needed to use the passing game to
loosen up Auburn’s defense, which was naturally loading up the tackle box with
seven or eight bodies to stuff the run.

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McElwain didn’t call for a lot of passes over 25 yards … at
least, not on his first batch of pass plays. He opted for a short-rollout
collection of smaller, probing kinds of pass plays which involved the
resourceful Brad Smelley and other receivers who got open on short eight-yard
routes and generally managed to keep Auburn’s linebackers guessing throughout
the first half. Once the Tigers’ back seven had to wonder what was coming next
from what is traditionally a run-first team, McElwain went for the downs. The
flea-flicker which gave Bama its first touchdown – a 41-yard scoring strike
from quarterback A.J. McCarron to Kenny Bell, who was 10 yards behind the rest
of the Tigers’ secondary – was a masterstroke because Auburn was biting on the run
action. The passing game is what Alabama needed to bring to the ballyard in
order to establish a considerable advantage. McElwain pried open opportunities
in the air with his play selection. The rest of the game was an Alabama romp,
made somewhat competitive for a short while only because Auburn scored a
defensive touchdown (on a strip and a subsequent recovery of a McCarron fumble
in the Alabama end zone) and a special-teams touchdown on a kickoff return by
Onterio McCalebb at the start of the second half. Bama’s defense shut out
Auburn’s pop-gun offense, limiting the Tigers to 140 total yards and only 62 of
them through the air. Auburn’s offense never sniffed the end zone, a damning
indictment of how poor the Tigers were able to move the ball. It’s safe to say
that the days of Cam Newton are a distant memory on the Plains.

Alabama, meanwhile, is recalling its 2009 national title.
The Tide are a few days away from learning if they’ll be able to play for the
whole ball of wax once again.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

South Carolina 34, Clemson 13

The tide has turned in the Palmetto State rivalry and at the
worst time imaginable for Clemson.

Losing their third out of the last four, the Tigers’
high-powered offense was shut down by South Carolina, in a decisive 34-13
defeat going into next week’s ACC Championship Game matchup with a hot Virginia
Tech team (11-1).

Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier summed-up the heated series’
status in one quip Saturday night.

“Historically, Clemson has owned this series,” Spurrier
said. “They don’t own us now.”

Indeed they don’t, after the Tigers triumphed in 10 of the
previous 14 and 62 percent overall in the series (65-39-4) – Saturday’s night
South Carolina win was a third-straight and fourth in six seasons for a
Gamecocks team that reached 10 wins (10-2) for the second time in school
history.

Protection problems crept up again for the Tigers (9-3), who
after surrendering six sacks last week in the 37-13 loss to NC State, gave up
five more this and several other throws were pressured or sophomore first-year
starter Tajh Boyd.

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Boyd had his worst night by far as a starter – completing
11-of-29 passes for 83 yards with a touchdown and interception each. The return
of his top target Sammy Watkins from a shoulder injury was marked by a sure
touchdown pass dropped by the star freshman in-stride. It was just one example
of the many of plays that were made during Clemson’s 8-0 start, which have been
nowhere to be found recently.

Coming into the weekend, Tigers offensive coordinator Chad
Morris’ spread offense was ranked 18th nationally at 465.3 yards and 35 points
per game, after a lackluster game in Raliegh (337 yards and 13 points) – the
Tigers couldn’t muster more than 13 points again with only 153 total yards this
time around.

Lack of production on first and second down was a major
culprit in the struggles, as Clemson was in third-and-long situations 13-of-16
its third down tries with only six conversions overall.

Spurrier’s Gamecocks set the tone the early by winning the
toss and taking the ball, moving easily down the field, but stalling in the red
zone to a 47-yard field goal by kicker Jay Wooten.

Clemson had no such luck stopping South Carolina’s next
drive, as sophomore Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw connected with running
back Bruce Ellington 49 yards in-stride to take a 10-0 first quarter lead.

After a defensive stand, the Tigers finally answered
offensively, a Boyd nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dwayne Allen.

Clemson blocked South Carolina’s next punt, setting up a
32-yard field goal by kicker Chandler Catanzaro to tie things up midway through
the second quarter.

South Carolina moved the ball effectively again to answer,
Shaw carrying the ball 15 yards up the gut of the Clemson offense into the
endzone to take a 17-10 halftime lead.

The Gamecocks hit quickly in the second half, a 55-yard pass
to tight end Rory Anderson setting up a two-yard touchdown pass to Anderson
again to regain the two-touchdown lead.

A Tigers’ three-and-out after returning the ensuing kickoff
55 yards all but sealed it, as after trading field goals, a Boyd interception
paved the way for the dagger – an 18-yard touchdown pass from Shaw to wide
receiver Alshon Jeffery to take the 34-13 lead.

Brandon Rink
DFN Sports Staff Writer

First, there was “The Game of the Century.” Just
20 days later, there’s “The Battle for the Boot,” the classic
confrontation between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the LSU Tigers.

This clash’s trophy is fittingly named, because these two
teams will try to boot the other out of the SEC and national championship
races. It what has become an uncommonly contentious November, the heavily-hyped
clash between LSU and Alabama has been matched in importance (though not in
stature and buzz) by a follow-up throwdown between LSU and Arkansas. While LSU
has reigned from the very beginning of this college football season, Arkansas -
with an unimpressive non-conference schedule – has made a late push to thrust
itself into the center of the national conversation. Arkansas snuck up on the
rest of the SEC to get a Sugar Bowl invite last year; now, coach Bobby
Petrino’s Razorback roster is in the process of stealthily making a bid for
prizes that are more precious than the Sugar Bowl.

The race for the SEC and BCS championships becomes narrower
every week, and now it has narrowed down to three teams in the SEC West. This
week, Arkansas number three in the BCS, will travel to face LSU , which is No.
1 in the BCS and the nation’s consensus number one team. If LSU wins it will
have such a substantial lead in the BCS that it could likely lose the SEC
Championship Game and still play for the BCS title. Arkansas, meanwhile, could
throw the SEC West race and the BCS picture into complete chaos with an upset
win in Baton Rouge. With a win, the SEC West would be a three-way tie, with
each team having a win over the other. It remains to be determined just how the
various tiebreakers in that scenario would play out. Still, Arkansas has a
chance to play its way into the SEC and national championship picture with a
win and that’s motivation enough. Arkansas and LSU are polar opposite teams in
many ways and that should make for a very entertaining game with so much at
stake.

LSU is unquestionably the nation’s number one team, and it
has proven to be so without much of an offense to speak of. The Tigers rank 107th
nationally in passing offense and 75th in scoring offense. The Tigers get by
with minimal offense because they are the nation’s best at forcing turnovers
and in special teams. The Tigers are first in the nation in turnover margin
(+18). Led by a secondary loaded with future pros Tyrann Mathieu and Morris
Claiborne, the Tigers defense takes the ball away as well as any team in the
country. LSU’s special teams also makes scoring difficult by being one of the
nation’s best units in punt coverage and efficiency. Punter Brad Wing has pinned
opponents inside their own twenty yard line on half of his punt attempts this
season. When LSU does have the ball, it relies on a powerful rushing attack
(209 yards per game) and to make big plays in the passing game on play action.

Arkansas will be the second best passing offense that LSU
has faced this season. LSU allowed a ton of passing yards against West
Virginia, and Arkansas will count on being able to move the ball as effectively
through the air. Tyler Wilson leads the SEC in passing and his collection of
wide receivers (Jarius Wright, Joe Adams, and Greg Childs will test that LSU
secondary. What will give Arkansas its best chance to win is avoiding
turnovers, and maintaining some balance offensively. If the Hogs can run the
ball moderately well and avoid falling behind early, they could spring yet
another late season upset of LSU and completely confuse an already muddy BCS
situation.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer