Despite a loss to Alabama last weekend, LSU still had hopes of winning the SEC West. Following its date with Arkansas, that hope has officially been extinguished.
Trailing 21-7 at halftime, the Tigers could get no closer than seven the rest of the way in falling to the Razorbacks 31-14. For the Hogs, they are now bowl-eligible at 6-4 on the season after losing four of six to start the season.
It was also UA’s second straight win in the Battle for the Boot. And, thanks in large part to Alex Collins, the Hogs get to keep possession of the 24-karat gold traveling trophy for another year.
Collins ran for a game-high 141 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries in the win. All told, the Razorbacks ran for 299 yards, scoring three of its four touchdowns on the ground.
Conversely, Leonard Fournette‘s Heisman campaign took yet another hit as the sophomore was held to 91 yards on 19 carries. Fournette has been held to 122 yards the past two games after averaging 193 yards per game the first seven this season.
For LSU, the loss, combined with last week’s loss to Alabama, drops them to 4-2 in SEC play on the season and takes them out of play in the West division.
Alabama, at 6-1, needs to simply beat Auburn in two weeks to claim the division. Ole Miss, at 4-2, could still win the West provided ‘Bama loses the Iron Bowl and they beat both LSU in Week 12 and Mississippi State in the regular-season finale a week later.
One final note: there could be a three-way tie between Alabama, Ole Miss and Arkansas as all three could finish 6-2. However, Arkansas would lose in the second step of the three-way tiebreaker -- the first step is head-to-head-to-head records, which would all be 1-1 -- because they would be 4-2 in West play while Alabama and Ole Miss would both be 5-1. In that three-way scenario, Ole Miss would then win the West based on the win over Alabama earlier in the year.