Arkansas Home for Holidays

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —  Marcus Randall ran for two touchdowns and passed twice to Joseph Addai for scores as No. 14 Louisiana State routed Arkansas, 43-14, on Friday, ending the Razorbacks’ hopes of going to a bowl game for the seventh consecutive season.

The loss was the Razorbacks’ first in 18 games at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock under Coach Houston Nutt.

Two years ago, the Razorbacks scored with nine seconds left to defeat the Tigers.

“This is a difficult place to play,” LSU Coach Nick Saban said. “We hadn’t won here in a while and they hadn’t lost here in a while. It was nice to win.”

Randall completed 10 of 14 passes for 173 yards and ran for 79 yards. Alley Broussard had 81 yards rushing for the Tigers, 9-2 and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference. Louisiana State scored the last 26 points.

“Coach kept reminding us about what happened here two years ago all week. I told coach that I felt comfortable running the ball,” Randall said. “Their defense is pretty simple and our scout team did a great job imitating them all week.”

Matt Jones, hobbled by a hamstring injury, could not muster the flair that has often sparked the Razorback offense. The senior quarterback and the team’s leading rusher was sacked three times and had minus-10 yards rushing.

“We would have scored more if Matt had been healthy,” Nutt said. “It was better than it was last week, but you know when he doesn’t force the option he wasn’t healthy.”

Steven Harris had five catches for 57 yards and a touchdown for Arkansas (5-6, 3-5).

“We dominated in the second half, which was critical,” Saban said.