Complementary Play From Whit Weeks, Damian Ramos, and Caden Durham Leads To LSU’s Decisive 34-10 Road Win Over Arkansas

LSU LB Whit Weeks (Photo taken by LSU Athletics)

For a while, it looked like it was going to be once again another classic battle for the Golden Boot Trophy.

The game was still very much in doubt with LSU holding on to a 16-10 lead as Arkansas had the football, but LSU linebacker Whit Weeks thought otherwise by tipping a Taylen Green ball in the air to himself for an interception inside the two yard line.

“It’s Whit Weeks. It was a pressure situation which he was blitzing, but what I think stands out is that he is active virtually all over the place. You saw a great play of him coming down later in the game at the line of scrimmage where the ball was going outside. He is an elite player in this league.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly on Whit Weeks

In a sequence of three plays, LSU had an interception, a Caden Durham touchdown run, and a two point conversion pass by Garrett Nussmeier to Trey’Dez Green to make what was once a six point lead to a 14 point lead for the Tigers at 24-10 in the third quarter.

LSU would later score 10 more unanswered points to cruise to a 34-10 win on the road against the Razorbacks to keep their SEC record unblemished and to improve their record at 6-1. Yet, it was Weeks’ impersonation of another standout Tigers defender that was able to jumpstart LSU in the second half of play.

“I thought that we had four quarters of LSU football for the first time maybe. There are some things around the edges that you want to clean up and you beat a good football team 34-10 in the SEC, we feel pretty good about it.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly

To start the game, the Tigers’ offense set the tone in a game that LSU never trailed by marching down the field despite a couple of penalties and scoring a touchdown on a 22 yard scamper by Caden Durham to put the road team up 7-0.

Durham, who has taken over for the Tigers as their RB1, had another great showing on the ground with all of LSU’s touchdowns tonight. The freshman from Duncanville, Texas had 21 carries for 101 yards and three scores.

While the SEC’s current leader in touchdown passes did not have any scoring tosses tonight in Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers’ signal caller was sharp and efficient in the short passing game and did not turn the football over by completing 22 of 33 passes for 224 yards.

CJ Daniels was Nussmeier’s top target tonight with seven grabs for 86 yards. Kyren Lacy had six grabs for 49 yards while Aaron Anderson had a couple of third down conversions with three grabs for 36 yards.

Damian Ramos ended up with the game ball tonight and deservingly so as he was clutch tonight with his field goal attempts converting on all four from 33, 48, 33, and 47 yards out to help give the Tigers that extra step ahead of the Razorbacks.

“The game ball went to Damian Ramos. While the game was still in balance, he helped us stay ahead of it and keep the momentum. Again, he made some big plays.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly

Against a talented dual threat quarterback in Taylen Green, the Tigers’ defense continues to impress and get better each pressing week as the Boise State commit completed 21 of 31 passes for 239 yards with one touchdown and one interception. His counterpart Ja’Quinden Jackson was only held to 26 yards on five carries. Overall, the Razorbacks rushing attack that has been averaging close to 200 yards per game was only held to 37.

“I think first and foremost, we made some mistakes on the first drive quite frankly. We had some errors and our guys were a little bit distracted emotionally. We settled down and what happened after that was guys did their job and they did it when they needed to do it. They are beginning to execute at a much higher level consistently and it starts with controlling the line of scrimmage. They couldn’t run the ball and became one dimensional. When that happens, we can get after it and we can get after the quarterback. We made life difficult for him.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly

Defensively, Weeks was all over the field with nine tackles, a sack, a TFL, an interception, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry.

The Tigers also scored 11 of their points tonight off turnovers forced by the defense with not only Weeks’ interception, but off an early fumble that was caused by Greg Penn and recovered by Major Burns.

LSU took a 16-7 lead into halftime and was able to extend its to lead to 24-10 in the third quarter, but the Tigers did make it hard on themselves early on the road with seven false start penalties that halted drives.

“We had two that were double clutches by our center. Sometimes, it is on our quarterback and he is taking too much time. The ownership in that is the management in the entire offense. Sometimes, we have to get into a better rhythm. Sometimes, it is getting our receivers out quicker. It’s a fire drill out there. All that together, we got to clean it up because that can’t continue to happen. There are more penalties out there than I would have liked. We’ll go back and look at it more closely. The whole management has to be cleaner.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly

Although those penalties got in the way, LSU proved to be the better team on the road and it showed with three different players all stepping up in all three phases of the game in Durham on offense, Weeks on defense, and Ramos on special teams.

In what is a classic trap game spot against an SEC program on the road that LSU has had trouble in the past turned out to be a comfortable, but yet pivotal victory for not only the Tigers’ conference championship hopes, but College Football Playoff hopes.

“We controlled the line of scrimmage. They had 38 yards rushing and for us to close out the game and have a drive of eight minutes virtually running the ball every down, those are the things that you look for in a team that is emerging for a contender. Part of the way they prepared for this game and to go on the road and win in a SEC venue, there are certainly a lot of things that are coming together for this football team.”

LSU HC Brian Kelly

Next week, the #8 LSU Tigers, which are now on a six game winning streak after dropping their first game of the season against USC, will have a huge battle against the Texas A&M Aggies in what will be a matchup between the only two undefeated teams in the conference.

Final Stats:

Offensive Cumulative Stats

STATLSUArkansas
NET TOTAL YARDS384277
NET RUSHING YARDS15838
Rushing Attempts3719
Average Per Rush4.32.0
Rushing TDs30
Yards Gained16362
Yards Lost524
NET PASSING YARDS226239
Completion-Attempts23-3421-31
Completion Percentage68%68%
Avg Per Completion9.811.4
YAC12570
Passing TDs01
Drops (%)0 (00%)0 (00%)
TOTAL 1ST DOWNS2515
Rushing 1st Downs63
Passing 1st Downs1412
Penalty 1st Downs50
TOTAL PLAYS7150
Avg Yds/Play5.45.5
Rushing-Passing37-3419-31

Offense Efficiency Comparison

STATLSUArkansas
RED ZONE ATTEMPTS5-50-0
Red Zone Points280
RZ TDs Rush-Pass3-00-0
RZ FG Made-Att2-20-0
RZ Turns00
3rd Downs8-144-9
4th Downs0-10-0
Penalties11-807-78
Fumbles-Lost0-02-2
Pts Off Turns110
POSSESSION TIME38:5121:09

Special Teams Comparison

STATLSUArkansas
Punts-Avg1-34.03-50.7
Inside2011
Field Goals4-41-2
Kick Returns0-00-0
Punt Returns1-00-0

Defensive Comparison

STATLSUArkansas
TACKLES4980
Solo Tackles2334
Tackles for Loss31
TFL Yards-24-3
Pass Breakups65
QB Hurries27
Sacks30
Sacks Yards-24-0
Takeaways FR-INT2-10-0
Forced Fumbles20
Fumble Recoveries20
FR Yards80
Interceptions10
INT Yards30
TDs INT-FR0-00-0

LSU Passing

#PLAYERC-AYDSTDIC%RTG
13NUSSMEIER,G22-332240067123.7
10COLLINS,R1-1200100116.8
PASS TOTALS23-342260068

LSU Receiving

#PLAYERNOYDSTDLNGAVGTGTC%YACDR
4DANIELS,C78602912.31070310
2LACY,K6490118.2967200
1ANDERSON,A33601812560230
86TAYLOR,M2160138367170
0THOMAS,Z11101111110060
18WILLIAMS,J111011111100150
14GREEN,T1808833340
29DURHAM,C17077110090
88PIMPTON,K12022110000
9 RECEIVERS232260299.834681250

LSU Rushing

#PLAYERATTYDSTDLNGAVG
29DURHAM,C211013224.8
28JACKSON,K5300126
18WILLIAMS,J518083.6
0THOMAS,Z15055
13NUSSMEIER,G25052.5
8JOHNSON,J21040.5
6 RUSHERS371583224.3

LSU Punting

PunterNOYDSAVGLNGI2050+
OCHSENDORF,B134343410

LSU Field Goals

KickerTimeDistResult
D.Ramos1st-00:3833GOOD
D.Ramos2nd-13:0448GOOD
D.Ramos2nd-03:1033GOOD
D.Ramos4th-11:5747GOOD
TOTAL4-4LONG OF 48

LSU All Purpose Yards

PlayerTotRushRecKORPRIR-FRTDs
DURHAM,C10810170003
DANIELS,C860860000
LACY,K490490000

LSU Defense

#Player (Starter)TotTkSoloSackTFLIntBrUpQBHFF
40W.Weeks (LB)95111110
8M.Burns (S)63000100
18G.Penn III (LB)65000011
3S.Ryan (DB)52000200
1A.Stamps (CB)42000000
42D.Keys410.50.50100
2J.Gilbert (S)30000000
0P.Shand (DE)21110000
4B.Swinson (DE)20000000
15D.Womack22000000
25J.Toviano21000001
11P.Woodland11000000
31J.Suggs100.50.50000
35S.Jones (DE)10000100
93A.Breaux10000000
TOTALS4923331622

LSU Punt Returns

ReturnerNOYDSAVGLNGTD
THOMAS,Z100000

LSU Kick Returns

ReturnerNOYDSAVGLNGTD

LSU Team Stats By Quarter

1stRushPassCAITotYAvg3rdsPens
1st107-5315-10410-15-01577.13-45-35
2nd58-318-203-8-0513.21-33-15
3rd36-125-584-5-0706.41-22-25
4th716-626-446-6-01064.83-51-5
Total2537-15834-22623-34-03845.48-1411-80

LSU Scoring Summary

QtrClockScoreTypePlayDriveScore
110:21TDRUSHC.Durham 22 yd rush (PAT KICK by D.Ramos GOOD)8/75/4:390-7
100:38FGD.Ramos 33 yd Field Goal14/60/5:430-10
213:04FGD.Ramos 48 yd Field Goal6/7/2:260-13
203:10FGD.Ramos 33 yd Field Goal10/59/5:157-16
304:52TDRUSHC.Durham 2 yd rush (PAT PASS caught by T.Green GOOD)1/2/0:0610-24
411:57FGD.Ramos 47 yd Field Goal8/50/4:3910-27
402:20TDRUSHC.Durham 1 yd rush (PAT KICK by D.Ramos GOOD)14/80/8:2210-34

Arkansas Passing

#PLAYERC-AYDSTDIC%RTG
10GREEN,T21-312391168136.7

Arkansas Receiving

#PLAYERNOYDSTDLNGAVGTGTC%YACDR
2ARMSTRONG,A79412513.41070330
6SATEGNA,I45402513.5667130
5BRODEN,T324014856010
7DUBINION,R22401912367130
9HASZ,L22201111210050
4TESLAA,I11401414110020
22JACKSON,J17077110020
0RUSSELL,B10000110010
8 RECEIVERS2123912511.43168700

Arkansas Rushing

#PLAYERATTYDSTDLNGAVG
22JACKSON,J526085.2
7DUBINION,R4150133.8
11ANTHONY,J14044
0RUSSELL,B33031
10GREEN,T6-1007-1.7
5 RUSHERS19380132

Arkansas Punting

PunterNOYDSAVGLNGI2050+
BALE,D315250.75811

Arkansas Field Goals

KickerTimeDistResult
M.Shipley1st-06:2142MISSED
M.Shipley3rd-09:5751GOOD
TOTAL1-2LONG OF 51

Arkansas All Purpose Yards

PlayerTotRushRecKORPRIR-FRTDs
ARMSTRONG,A940940001
SATEGNA,I540540000
DUBINION,R3915240000

Arkansas Defense

#Player (Starter)TotTkSoloSackTFLIntBrUpQBHFF
3D.Slaughter (DB)107000000
10X.Sorey (LB)92000010
13M.Robinson (DB)85000200
8J.Johnson (DB)74000000
15J.Singletary (DB)73000000
14S.Dix Jr. (LB)61000010
40L.Jackson (DL)52000030
50E.Gregory (DL)52000110
0N.Davillier (DL)41000000
5C.Ball (DL)41010000
17H.Clark43000100
30L.Worth III42000100
16M.Mitchell30000000
4A.Juncaj10000000
18T.Metcalf (DB)10000000
22B.Spence10000000
72J.Braun11000000
97Q.Rhodes Jr.00000010
TOTALS8034010570

Arkansas Punt Returns

ReturnerNOYDSAVGLNGTD

Arkansas Kick Returns

ReturnerNOYDSAVGLNGTD

Arkansas Team Stats By Quarter

1stRushPassCAITotYAvg3rdsPens
1st25-293-362-3-0658.10-12-19
2nd74-1613-959-13-01116.52-34-45
3rd57–410-747-10-1704.12-40-0
4th13–35-343-5-0313.90-11-14
Total1519-3831-23921-31-12775.54-97-78

Arkansas Scoring Summary

QtrClockScoreTypePlayDriveScore
208:25TDPASSA.Armstrong 25 yd reception thrown by T.Green (PAT KICK by M.Shipley GOOD)9/75/4:397-13
309:57FGM.Shipley 51 yd Field Goal11/42/5:0310-16