The Battle for the Golden Boot. The Battle of the Ravine. Even Arkansas State’s victory.
They all came down to late field goals. It was quite a Saturday for teams from this state.
Cam Little kicked a 37-yard field goal in overtime to power Arkansas to a 16-13 victory at LSU. It was his third field goal of the game. The last one followed a Montaric Brown interception on LSU’s first overtime possession. Little has made 17 field goals this season.
Little has been such a pleasant surprise that he could probably give Sarah Huckabee Sanders a run for her money in the governor’s race if the election were this November rather than next November. As it is, the Razorbacks move to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference with two games remaining in the regular season.
Arkansas broke a five-game losing streak in the series against LSU and has its first seven-win season since 2016. Sam Pittman evened his record at 10-10 as the Razorback head coach.
LSU falls to 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the SEC under its lame-duck coach. The Tigers outgained the Hogs 308-218, but Arkansas won the takeaway battle 3-0.
Alabama looms in this week’s CBS game.
I was 4-3 on the picks last week to make the season record 69-19.
Here are this week’s games:
Alabama 35, Arkansas 26 — Arkansas has the ability to hang around for at least three quarters in this one. This is a good Alabama team, but it’s not the best team in the nation. The Tide warmed up last Saturday with a 59-3 nonconference win over 1-9 New Mexico State. Alabama is now 9-1. Bryce Young was 21 of 23 passing for 270 yards and five touchdowns. Alabama led 49-3 at the half. Arkansas must hope that the Tide is looking ahead to the Iron Bowl.
Georgia State 33, Arkansas State 31 — The Red Wolves downed Louisiana-Monroe by a final score of 27-24 after making a 42-yard field goal with 1:17 left on the clock. ASU scored 17 of the game’s final 20 points. An interception with 20 seconds left sealed the victory. It was ASU’s first win since Sept. 4 and ended an eight-game losing streak. The Red Wolves are now 2-8 overall and 1-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. Louisiana-Monroe fell to 4-6 and 2-5. This week’s opponent, Georgia State, is 5-5. The wins have come by scores of 20-9 over Charlotte, 55-21 over Louisiana-Monroe, 28-16 over Texas State, 21-14 over Georgia Southern and 42-40 over Coastal Carolina. The losses have been by scores of 43-10 to Army, 59-17 to North Carolina, 34-24 to Auburn, 45-16 to Appalachian State and 21-17 to Louisiana-Lafayette. The game is in Atlanta.
UCA 28, Tarleton State 25 — The Bears fell to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play with a 27-14 loss to Stephen F. Austin, which improved to 7-3 and 3-2. UCA’s offense was held to a season low of 304 yards. Breylin Smith was 17 of 27 passing for 163 yards. UCA makes a road trip to Stephenville, Texas, this weekend to battle Tarleton State. The game will determine which team has a winning season and which one has a losing season since Tarleton is also 5-5. Its wins have come by scores of 54-7 over Fort Lewis, 40-21 over New Mexico Highlands, 41-20 over Dixie State, 17-14 over Midwestern State and 42-21 over Lamar. The losses were by scores of 20-10 to Stephen F. Austin, 40-35 to Southern Utah, 20-3 to Eastern Kentucky, 45-27 to Sam Houston State and 29-3 to Abilene Christian.
Alabama A&M 30, UAPB 20 — The Golden Lions will end a disappointing season with a trip to Huntsville, Ala., to take on Alabama A&M. UAPB fell to 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the SWAC last Saturday with a 37-7 loss to Florida A&M in Pine Bluff. The Rattlers are 8-2 overall and 6-1 in conference play in their first year in the SWAC. Florida A&M finished the game with 570 yards of offense. Alabama A&M is 6-3 overall and 4-3 in SWAC play. The wins have been by scores of 42-41 over South Carolina State, 30-27 over Bethune-Cookman, 45-35 over Tuskegee, 42-28 over Alabama State, 42-14 over Mississippi Valley State and 52-49 over Texas Southern. The losses were by scores of 37-28 to Grambling, 61-15 to Jackson State and 35-31 to Florida A&M.
Harding 27, Washburn 19 — Harding is 10-1 and the Great American Conference champion following a 31-0 victory at 4-7 Arkansas Tech. The Bisons led just 7-0 at halftime but scored on their first four possessions of the second half. Cole Chancey rushed for 210 yards on 28 carries with 181 of those yards coming in the second half. Harding hosts a first-round NCAA Division II playoff game Saturday afternoon in Searcy. Washburn is 9-2. Harding has the ability to go deep into the playoffs because teams from outside the GAC haven’t seen anything like the Bisons’ double-slot option offense.