Brian Kelly and the No. 8 ranked LSU Tigers are trending in the right direction after a critical Week 7 victory over Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels.

Now, it’s about going back to thr drawing board and preparing for another SEC matchup against a fiery Arkansas Razorbacks squad on Saturday.

Sam Pittman’s program has proven to hang with the best of them after taking down a Top-5 foe in the Tennessee Volunteers, which makes the Week 7 clash that much more enticing.

For LSU, signal-caller Garrett Nussmeier is clicking on all cylinders after a gutsy, clutch performance in the fourth quarter against the Rebels in Week 7.

“I would say that he is unique. Garrett’s in that first year starting but has the ability to have an awareness that ‘I’ve gotta find a way to get through this.’ On the sideline, he is talkative, he is always looking for solutions,” Kelly said. “What can we do here with the coverages I’m seeing? He’ll say I like this play, can we come back to this? I just think he’s always engaged looking for answers and that’s what makes him unique. Regardless of what has happened prior to, he’s looking for success later in the game. Some of the plays that were called later were ones he really likes.”

Nussmeier connected with wide receiver Aaron Anderson in the end-zone on a fourth down conversion to send Saturday night’s thriller to overtime. From there, it was all LSU, with Kelly praising his quarterback’s ability to keep eyes down the field to make a play.

“He had other options there and many of the offensive structures as you can imagine, he’s going to have an opportunity to get the ball out quickly. He was working through the third piece of the progression. It’s Anderson coming all the way across from the backside hash and just anticipated where he was gonna be and threw the ball where he was gonna be. That’s just trusting your teaching, trusting you know that guy’s gonna be there. He’s thrown that ball so many times that you just let it go. He threw him open and that’s a confidence level that he had in the route.”

Now, after coming back down to Earth following an emotional victory, it’s all focus shifting towards a date in Fayetteville against the Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend.

Here’s all the game information for the SEC clash:

When: Saturday, Oct. 19
Where: Fayetteville, Ark.
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Channel: ESPN Network

– LSU is 2-4 against the spread (33.3%) overall this season.
– Arkansas is 5-1 (83.3%) against the spread.
– The total has gone over in 15 of LSU’s last 20 games.
– LSU is 4-12-1 against the spread in its last 17 games against Arkansas.
– The total went under in 6 of Razorbacks’ last 7 games at home against LSU.
– LSU is 1-4 against the spread as a 3-point or greater favorite this season.
– Arkansas is 3-0 against the spread as 3-point or greater underdog in 2024.

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Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter: @znagy20 and LSU Tigers On SI: @LSUTigersSI for all coverage surrounding the LSU program.