Behind the Box Score: Arkansas

This was a dominating win, and it was even moreso on the box score. LSU jumped out to an early lead, and Arkansas made virtually no hay in chipping away at that lead. Pretty much everywhere you look on the box score, you see LSU domination. Just the way we like it. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers.

252. Derrius Guice would have broken the LSU record for rushing yards in a game had not Leonard Fournette broken it earlier in the season. The top two rushing performances of all time both took place in the same season, which is pretty damn remarkable. Even more remarkable is that Guice put up those numbers in relief duty. Imagine if he started.

10-16-157. A boring, pedestrian line from Danny Etling, but a huge step forward from last week. It shows that the Bama game didn’t permanently damage his psyche the way it had previous LSU quarterbacks. He brings the same basic competence he has brought all year to the offense.

6. The number of LSU defenders with 5 tackles. Not 5 tackles or more, but exactly 5 tackles. This season has been marked by guys having standout games with double digit tackles, usually Riley or Beckwoth, but this was one of the first time it seemed the entire defense parceled out the production evenly. Everyone contributed to the death machine that is defense. It’s not just one guy having a huge game, it’s the whole team. It’s like there aren’t any ways to attack the unit at all.

132. The amount of yards Arkansas gained on its last two drives. So way too pad the scorebook when down 31-10 without actually putting up any points. Arkansas only managed 291 yards of offense on the game, and nearly half of it came in the fourth quarter after I had put my kids to bed. Those yards barely mattered at all. They came when the game wasn’t really in contest anymore, plus it didn’t result in any points.

547. LSU’s total offense. LSU averaged 8.2 yards/paly. Yes, this was helped out by a 96-yard touchdown run to seal the game, but even with Guice’s huge gainer, LSU had 451 yards of offense on 66 plays for a robust 6.8 yards/play average. Outside the Bama game, LSU’s worst offensive output under Coach O has been the 459 yards against Southern Miss. And 38 points ties LSU’s lowest score total against non-Bama teams.

14-3. The score margin of points off of turnovers. Yes, the defense was lights out anyway, but turnovers helped a great deal, putting 14 points on the board for LSU and taking away another score for Arkansas. The turnovers acted as a multiplier on an already dominant performance, but it helped break the game open and later on, seal the win.