Chark one up for LSU

Published 8:40 pm Sunday, November 12, 2017

Fourth-quarter TD pass wakes up Tigers

BATON ROUGE — Maybe it was the early wake-up call.

But LSU sure seemed a little bleary-eyed and sluggish while taking its sweet time in putting Arkansas away Saturday morning.

In fact, it stretched well into Tiger Stadium’s afternoon of the rare eye-opener of an 11 a.m. start before wide receiver D.J. Chark sensed the time had come.

During the lull between the third and fourth quarters, the play call came in — a Chark go-route streak down the right sideline.

Chark didn’t need to wipe the sleep from his eyes. His eyes lit up.

Center Will Clapp recalled what Chark said in the huddle.

“If y’all block this,” Chark told them, “it’s a touchdown. And we can get out of here quick.”

Moments later the streak route was streaking 68 yards into the end zone and all was left for the Tigers was to put a sluggish first half in the rearview mirror and commence with the finishing touches on a 33-10 victory over Arkansas.

It was Chark’s second touchdown of the day, while Derrius Guice ran for 147 yards and three scores, including a 33-yarder twisting run which followed a 6-yard touchdown to open the third quarter that put the Tigers up for good. Guice scored the final touchdown on a 1-yard run.

It left LSU 7-3, 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference.

“The offense in the second half was outstanding,” LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said. “Very balanced — 217 yards passing, 208 yards rushing. No turnovers.”

The first half, not so much — a lot of yards for a 7-7 tie.

“We knew it would be a struggle, especially in the first quarter,” Orgeron said. “It’s a rivalry game and a little bit more of a rivalry for them.”

Arkansas did present more a challenge than one would expect from a team that fell to 4-6, 1-5 and its coach on the hot seat.

“They came to play, but I always felt we were going to win the game,” Orgeron said.

It just took a while following a 7-7 halftime tie.

And for much of the game the only thing keeping the early rising fans bright-eyed alert was the sudden suspense and drama of the usually mundane extra point and short field goal game.

It made for high drama, but wasn’t part of the plan.

It kept it closer than it should have, partly due to the yips of placekicker Connor Culp, who went into the game having made his last eight field goals, but missed a short one to open the game and two extra points in the third quarter.

“I saw the same thing you saw,” Orgeron said, throwing up his hands. “Bad kicks.”

But Chark’s long touchdown reception on the fourth quarter’s first play seemed to settle everything down.

Backup kicker Jack Gonsulin even nailed the extra point.

“I was proud of him,” Orgeron said with rare praise for an extra point.

Changing quarterbacks wasn’t out of the question at halftime.

But Orgeron stuck with Etling, who missed at least two potential touchdown passes during the sleepy first half.

“I wanted to give him a chance,” Orgeron said. “He has bled purple and gold. If he hadn’t performed like he did in the third quarter I would have pulled him. But I wanted to give him a chance.”

Etling, who had to go the training room afterward and wasn’t available for comment after the game, had trouble connecting with open receivers last week against No. 1 Alabama.

But Chark said he and Etling spent extra time this past week on the timing of the downfield passes.

It paid off while Etling was completing 11 of 16 passes while also improving on the Tigers’ intermediate throwing game.

Chark caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Etling in the first quarter.

“They were both perfect throws,” Chark said. “Those are two of the easiest touchdown passes I ever caught.”

But the first one was also all the Tigers had to show for a frustrating first half that ended in a 7-7 tie.

“I thought defensively we were fine,” Orgeron said. “I felt offensively we were very sluggish. It seemed like their defense was penetrating a lot more we thought they should — the sacks, the tackles for loss.”

“We made great second-half adjustments,” tight end Foster Moreau said. “Credit the coaches. Credit Coach O for putting Alabama behind us.”

Orgeron said it wasn’t nothing magical.

“I was proud nobody blinked,” he said of the second-half bounceback. “There was no hollering and screaming at halftime. We just stuck to the game plan, came out in the second half and won the game.”

“We played a little angry in the second half,” defensive lineman Greg Gilmore said.

LSU had every opportunity to put the game away in the first half, when its average starting position for five drives was its own 40-yard line.

But the Tigers were plagued early by penalties, Etling missed on two potential touchdown passes, Derrick Dillon misjudged and dropped another and Culp missed his field goal attempt on the opening drive.

Arkansas, which had minus-1 yards rushing in the first quarter, didn’t run a play in LSU territory until putting together an 86-yard drive to tie the score at 7-7 with 16 seconds left in the half on Devwah Whaley’s 1-yard run.

The Hogs had 86 of their 132 first-half yard in the scoring drive.

“We didn’t blink with an 11 a.m. kick off,” Orgeron said. “We answered the challenge.”