Pardon me, I don’t often do this.

But today’s essay promises to be heavy on statistics, which as we all know can be quite confusing, often misleading and, according to noted football expert Mark Twain, sometimes can take the next precarious step past “lies” and “damn lies.”

Hang on. Bear with me.

But Brian Kelly did his best to put a happy face on LSU’s defense while the Tigers barely held off Arkansas 34-31 Saturday night.

And there were some bright spots.

Hold on … I’m still looking.

OK. Here it is.

You can make the case that the LSU defense hung in fairly in well — against a freak of pork nature in quarterback K.J. Jefferson — to keep the first half from getting away from the Tigers while waiting for the dynamic offense to get its sea legs, which was almost the entire first half.

The defense also held the Razorbacks to a pair of field goals when touchdowns looked to be preordained.

One of those field goals came after a fake field attempt kept a Razorbacks drive longer than it should.

“You get a chance to see what you’re made of,” Kelly said. “That can take the wind right out of you and our guys hung in there and (forced) the field goal.

In a last-second three-point victory, that could have been rather huge, which was fortunate.

Just a guess, but LSU is going to go as far this season as its offense will take it. And that offense will go as far as quarterback Jayden Daniels will take it, with much help from wide receiver Malik Nabors.

But there will be times, like early in the Arkansas game, when those fireworks are misfiring.

Before a 49-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Brian Thomas woke up the crowd and the team in the waning moments of the first half it was looking bleak. LSU had to score on that wake-up call and all four possessions of the second half, including the winning field goal with 5 seconds remaining.

LSU’s defense was pretty much a non-factor amidst what at least was a very entertaining night.

Did I mention that Arkansas scored on all of its second-half possessions until an interception on the game’s final, desperate play?

Let’s just say nobody is calling LSU’s defense DBU anymore.

However, it can’t be as simple as a portal-heavy secondary.

After all, LSU held Mississippi State to 107 passing yards the previous week.

Just the Cowbells, you say?

Maybe. But last week Mississippi State threw for 487 yards last week against South Carolina.

It’s not just pass defense.

But LSU lost one game (Florida State) and had every opportunity to lose another to Arkansas because the Tigers couldn’t get off the field on third down. Simple as that. Those two opponents combined to go 17 of 27 on third-down conversions — 9 of 14 for the Seminoles, 8 of 13 for the Razorbacks. Both converted one fourth down to negate rare third-down success.

Yes, LSU has a third-down problem. Even with Mississippi State going 3-for-13 and Grambling 3-for-12, the still leaves LSU’s defense ranking tied for 99th in the nation in getting off the field on third down.

That’s tied with Central Michigan and one spot ahead of New Mexico.

Against Arkansas, LSU gave up 12 yards per play on third down. The Tigers gave up 5 yards per play on the other downs.

Maybe there’s hope. The No. 7-ranked, unbeaten Washington Huskies are No. 97.

It wasn’t like LSU could not get pressure on the 250-pound Jefferson. The Tigers pressured him all night. They just couldn’t quite tackle him — oh so close, so many times.

That played the biggest role in Arkansas picking up four first downs of 9 yards or longer, one of them 18 yards. And that doesn’t include first downs LSU eventually gave up after first-and-20, second-and-20 and a pair of second-and-15s.

If LSU covers freshman Arkansas tight end Luke Hasz next year, it will be the first time.

“We were trying to make too many plays,” Kelly said.

Huh?

“What I mean by that (they) were we’re trying to make too many plays that are not really (theirs) place to make,” he said. “We just need to do our job and when we settle down and do the ordinary things extraordinarily well, this can be a really good defense.

“It’s shown itself to have resiliency and toughness.”

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com