Postgame Thoughts: LSU 23, Arkansas 22

Of all the LSU football games I’ve seen in my life, that was certainly one of them but the Tigers (6-4, 3-4) won its first game in five weeks, clinched bowl eligibility, and held off Arkansas by the slimmest of margins Saturday morning in Tiger Stadium.

Frank Wilson got his first win as interim head coach of the Tigers, while Michael Van Buren, making his first start as quarterback for LSU in place of an injured Garrett Nussmeier, made enough plays with his arms and legs to win. Did he perform well enough to be the clear-cut, unquestioned QB1 for the Tigers heading into 2026? Well…let’s revisit that later.

Maybe it was the early start, but LSU looked completely disinterested in the first quarter of today’s game. Arkansas moved right down the field on the game’s opening drive, but fumbled a toss dive on 3rd and 1 deep in LSU territory to squander that early opportunity.

The Hogs wouldn’t have to mourn the missed chance however, as Arkansas forced an LSU three and out on its opening possession, blocked a Grant Chadwick punt, and recovered it for a touchdown to go up 7-0.

LSU went three and out its second time possessing the ball, and Arkansas’ offense marched methodically down the field to go up 14-0.

To LSU’s credit, the Tiger offense responded with three straight scoring drives, using a touchdown and two field goals to chip away and make it a 14-13 game. Get this, the Tigers were able to do that largely by “running” the ball, which is a foreign concept but something that maybe ought to have been explored more earlier this season. The tandem of Harlem Berry and Caden Durham carried the ball 23 times for 117 yards, and as a team LSU finished with 155 yards rushing.

While the LSU offense chipped away and away and eventually gained the lead, the only reason they were able to do so was because the Tiger defense made some great adjustments after the first quarter. They got some help from Arkansas (two interceptions, a failed fourth and goal from the 1 and a missed 48-yard field goal that would have given the Razorbacks a late lead) but only allowed one scoring drive over Arkansas’ final eight possessions. LSU may be a bad team, but Arkansas is an all caps B A D team and that showed up today.

Stop me when you’ve heard this one before: Harold Perkins terrorized Arkansas’ offense. Perkins had his best game of the season with four tackles, a sack, 2.5 TFLs, and also intercepted a pass, that LSU was able to turn into three points.

Did Michael Van Buren do enough to earn the starting job for next season? Maybe, maybe not. The numbers look a lot better than the eye test would tell you (21 of 31 for 221 yards, one touchdown and no picks) but the bulk of those completions were at or near the line of scrimmage. Van Buren was an okayish 6 of 12 on passes beyond 10 yards, and was also sacked four times. But the whole offensive operation is so rotten (the scheme, the offensive line) that I think Van Buren probably did as well as he possibly could given the circumstances; and, if nothing else, it was nice watching a healthy quarterback. Would LSU still be a 6-4 team if the change at quarterback were made sooner? We’ll never know for sure, because the offensive line and play calling is just so bad, but I think things would look a little better. Maybe not “CFP Contender” better, but not…wherever we are now.

The LSU and Arkansas game almost always plays out like today (derogatory) and in this year’s edition LSU made just enough plays to keep The Boot in The Boot.