Lunney, Orgeron familiar

FAYETTEVILLE — Barry Lunney Jr. and Ed Orgeron share something in common other than leading the Arkansas Razorbacks and No. 1 LSU Tigers, respectively, who will meet on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

They have both had “interim head coach” attached to their names at high-profile schools.

Lunney, a former University of Arkansas quarterback, will make his debut as the interim coach for the Razorbacks on Saturday.

Orgeron, who led Ole Miss to a 10-25 record in three seasons (2005-07), was interim coach at both USC (2013) and LSU (2016) and led both programs to 6-2 records in those stints.

Orgeron wanted to assume the full-time head coaching duties at USC after finishing up for Lane Kiffin in 2013, but he did not get the gig.

After a year out of coaching in 2014, Orgeron resurfaced as LSU’s defensive line coach in 2015. When Coach Les Miles was fired early in 2016 after an 18-13 loss to Auburn, Orgeron got his second chance as a full-time head coach.

The Tigers have gone 9-4, 10-3 and 10-0 under his direction.

Lunney said he talked with Orgeron when Coach Bret Bielema brought him in to meet with the staff in 2014 for a few days. Orgeron also spoke to the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club during that visit.

“He was here for a few days, and Bret had brought him because he wanted to watch practice and be around a little bit,” Lunney said Monday. “I had a brief conversation with him a couple of times. I don’t know if he would remember that.

“Obviously, he’s somebody that I’ve watched from afar. … One of the things that I’ve seen since I’ve been here going on my seventh year, it was very clear when he took over that team at LSU during the middle of the year, it didn’t take long for him to put his fingerprint on that football team.”

Yurachek writes

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek posted an update on the athletic department’s website Thursday, encouraging Arkansas fans to support the football team for Saturday’s game at LSU and the season finale next Friday in Little Rock against Missouri.

In the update, Yurachek wrote, “Let’s help fill War Memorial Stadium to cheer on this team and these players as they compete in the Battle Line Rivalry.