Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Razorback Report
“A search for our next head football coach is well underway. As I have shared previously, I firmly believe that we will find a quality leader for our football team. The Razorback Football program has much to offer – including substantial financial support, tremendous facilities, an outstanding academic institution, great history and tradition, competing in the nation’s best conference and a passionate fan base.
“In my continued efforts to identify our next head coach, just as I did in our recent men’s basketball search, I will work to maintain confidentiality in the process. I understand that because of the great interest in our search, there will continue to be an abundance of speculation. I appreciate your patience and understanding as I focus on the important task at hand.”
Captain Limpert
Senior kicker Connor Limpert will serve as a game captain for the Razorbacks on Saturday at LSU. He’ll join permanent defensive captains McTelvin Agim, De’Jon Harris and T.J. Smith.
Earlier in the week, interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. had referenced Limpert as being a “steady Eddie” for the Razorbacks.
“We made steady Eddie our fourth captain to complement those other three,” Lunney said.
Turner talk
Lunney said he’s tried to visualize how he’ll handle making decisions in his head coaching debut Saturday at Tiger Stadium, and he’s sought guidance from his father and members of the Arkansas staff, such as Turner Gill, the first-year director of student-athlete and staff development who has been a head coach at Kansas, Buffalo and Liberty.
“I had a good meeting with Turner Gill this morning of things to anticipate as a head football coach, the calls and decisions that I’m going to have to make,” Lunney said Wednesday. “We were kind of going through that. Turner has kind of, not guided me through that, but certainly has given me some things to think about before I get into that game. At the end of the day, you have to make decisions based on gut, based on preparation and not on emotions and that’s how I’m approaching this game.”
On Jefferson
The Razorbacks could start their fourth quarterback of the season and seventh in the last 21 games if true freshman KJ Jefferson goes out with the first unit Saturday.
Interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. was asked about Jefferson’s leadership ability Wednesday.
“I think about everything you need to know in that regard showed up when he took the field against Mississippi State, and when he had the ball in his hands and just how the team reacted to him,” Lunney said. “I think that spoke volumes.”
Harris near home
Arkansas senior linebacker De’Jon Harris will be playing about an hour from his hometown of New Orleans on Saturday.
Interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. said he saw an increased focuse from Harris this week.
“He’s one of the guys I reached out to during this just to kind of get a pulse,” Lunney said. “He’s on our leadership committee and that was the first thing he said that he was actually embracing the fact that the game was at night and was hoping to experience that.”
No. 1 Tigers
Arkansas has faced LSU twice when the Tigers were ranked No. 1. The most memorable of those games wound up in a 50-48 triple overtime win for the Razorbacks on Nov. 23, 2007, the final game at Arkansas for Coach Houston Nutt. Former Arkansas All-American and two-time Doak Walker Award winner Darren McFadden crashed an interview between Nutt and CBS’ Tracy Woolfson shouting “I got that wood right here,” and he also corrected then-LSU Coach Les Miles’ mispronunciation of “Arkansas.”
No. 1 LSU downed the No. 3 Razorbacks 41-17 on Nov. 25, 2011, the last time Arkansas faced the No. 1 Tigers.
First and last
The Razorbacks will be the first and last team to play the No. 1 ranked team in the College Football Playoff poll after Saturday’s game.
After the first-ever College Football Playoff rankings were released on Oct. 28, 2014, Arkansas was the first team to face No. 1 when they lost 17-10 at Mississippi State on Nov. 1.
LSU has been No. 1 in the CFP rankings the last two weeks.
Common foes
The Razorbacks and Tigers have four common opponents this season: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
LSU is 4-0 against those teams, while Arkansas is 0-4.
The aggregate scoring advantage for LSU in those games is 163-111, an average score of 40.8 to 27.8.
Arkansas’ combined scoring against those teams is 184-58, for an average losing score of 46 to 14.5.
Burrow notes
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow has completed 20 passes or more in a school-record 13 consecutive games.
Burrow, with 3,687 passing yards this season, has already surpassed the previous school record of 3,347 yards held by Rohan Davey (2001).
Burrow’s six touchdown passes in the Tigers’ 66-38 win at Vanderbilt was a school record. Those 66 points were the most in regulation in an SEC game for LSU.
Burrow, a senior, has 6,582 passing yard to rank fourth on LSU’s all-time chart in just two seasons. Burrow needs 44 yards to surpass JaMarcus Russell (6,582) for third and 340 yards to eclipse Jeff Wickersham (6,921) for second. Tommy Hodson’s school record of 9,115 yards looks safe for now.