BATON ROUGE -- A defensive slugfest for 30 minutes flipped freakishly into a second half free-for-all Saturday night between Battle for the Golden Boot rivals Arkansas and No. 12 LSU.
The Tigers got the ball with five minutes left in a tie game, drove quickly into the Arkansas red zone then melted the clock down to the final seconds to set up Damian Ramos' 21-yard field goal with 5 seconds left.
LSU's 34-31 win before a crowd of 99,648 at Tiger Stadium marked the fourth consecutive game decided by three points in the SEC West rivalry.
"Isn't that ironic, guys?" Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman mused. "Another damn three-point loss. The bad thing is the Razorbacks are 1-3 in those.
"We really thought we could come beat LSU tonight. We fell three points short but give them all the credit because they found a way to win. We've got a good football team. We've got a lot to work on, but I like this team."
LSU (3-1, 2-0 SEC) retained the Golden Boot trophy and denied the Razorbacks (2-2, 0-1 SEC) a shot at winning back-to-back games in Baton Rouge for the first time.
"It's just the nature of two teams in proximity playing for a rivalry trophy," LSU Coach Brian Kelly said. "We told our team that they were going to play their very best and I thought they played their very best.
"It was just one of those games where we were the last ones to have the football, and I was not interested in letting Arkansas have another chance. Again, a great football game."
Quarterbacks KJ Jefferson and Jayden Daniels held a memorable second-half shootout with both teams scoring on each of their drives after halftime.
Jefferson finished 21 of 31 for 289 yards, with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, as his long heave on the final play of the game was picked off by Andre Sam. Jefferson tied Matt Jones for the UA record for career touchdown responsibility with 77.
The Razorbacks bounced back from a sub-par showing in last week's 38-31 home loss to BYU.
"This game right here showed that we have a great amount of potential on our team," Jefferson said. "We didn't divide at all when adversity hit us. We came together and you can see on the field that we were all locked in, we were all bought in."
Daniels completed 20 of 29 passes for 320 yards and 4 touchdowns. Daniels connected with Brian Thomas for a 49-yard touchdown strike with 30 seconds left in the first half, then hit him with another 49-yard score on the third play of the second half to turn a 13-3 deficit into a 17-13 LSU lead.
"Once he got on, he was on," Pittman said. "I thought we frustrated him early, but we couldn't stop him from the end of the first half forward."
Daniels' favorite target, Malik Nabers, had 8 catches for 130 yards and 2 touchdowns and it was his 36-yard reception that sparked LSU's game-winning drive.
LSU scored touchdowns on four consecutive drives of 75 yards, forcing the Razorbacks into catch-up mode.
But Jefferson and the Razorbacks would not back down. Arkansas matched LSU score for score throughout the wild second half.
Jefferson and freshman tight end Luke Hasz made big connections throughout the final 30 minutes, including a pair of touchdown passes. Hasz finished with six receptions for 116 yards.
Hasz got behind the defense on a broken play -- much like Dominique Johnson did on a 43-yard touchdown in the Hogs' 16-13 overtime win here in 2021 -- to haul in a 59-yard score early in the fourth quarter to pull Arkansas within 24-22. The Razorbacks elected to go for two points but committed a false start. Jefferson delivered a strike to Hasz for the 2-point conversion and a tie.
But back came LSU quickly and Daniels capped the series with a 20-yard pass to Nabers.
Arkansas matched it with a penalty-filled series, scoring despite a false start, a delay of game and a holding penalty. After Harold Perkins committed a roughing the passer penalty to negate an incomplete pass on third down, Jefferson found Hasz again over the left side for an 11-yard touchdown.
LSU, aware that Arkansas had no timeouts left, went into stall mode after reaching the Arkansas 7 and took the chip shot field goal to win.
The Razorbacks finished with 426 yards, including 137 on the ground, while LSU's second-half ground game changed the complexion of the contest. The Tigers rushed for 189 yards and finished with 509 total yards.
The Razorbacks struck first, taking advantage of field position in the first exchange of punts on Max Fletcher's 53-yard boot and Jay Bramblett's 36-yarder out of bounds at the Hogs' 44.
Arkansas' game plan, to play ball control, came through clear on a 12-play, 51-yard march that included two third-down conversions.
The biggest play of the sequence came on third and 10, when Jefferson eluded a sack try, made a move to leave Sam grasping for air and ran 25 yards on a scramble to the LSU 31. Arkansas overcame a 5-yard sack by converting third and 4 on Tyrone Broden's 7-yard catch.
On a second-and-goal play from the Tigers' 5, Hasz brought in a high throw near the goal line and came down inches short of a touchdown. The Hogs were flagged for a false start and had to settle for Cam Little's 23-yard field goal to move ahead 3-0.
The Razorbacks had another clock-eating possession early in the second quarter, driving 75 yards before stalling at the 5 and settling for another 23-yard Little field goal.
The Tigers finally found an offensive spark when Nabers caught an 11-yard pass on third and 6, then Josh Williams stormed 41 yards over the left side on the next play. A horse collar tackle by Al Walcott tacked on another 10 yards to set the Tigers up at the 9.
But the Razorbacks stood stout, stopping two John Emery runs. Chris Paul and Cam Ball combined on a sack on third down, forcing the Tigers to settle for a 24-yard Damian Ramos field goal.
Both teams cracked the end zone in the last minute of the half, Arkansas with another methodical march and LSU in lightning fashion.
Broden showed great concentration to bring in a 19-yard fade with Denver Harris pulling his jersey while draped on his back. The play was originally ruled as incomplete, but the replay booth confirmed the touchdown with 48 seconds left to give Arkansas a 13-3 lead after the eight-play, 75-yard sequence.
Three plays later, Thomas raced past Jaheim Singletary in the slot and brought in a Daniels deep ball for a 49-yard score to make it 13-10 at the half.