Excellence at sacks

BATON ROUGE -- Arkansas' defense sacked it to LSU on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

The Razorbacks had a season-high five sacks for 37 yards in losses to fuel their 31-14 victory over LSU after Arkansas came into the game ranked 125th nationally in fewest sacks with eight.

Junior defensive end Deatrich Wise led Arkansas with 2 1/2 sacks for 17 lost yards. He also had two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry that forced an incompletion by quarterback Brandon Harris.

Wise had two sacks the first nine games this season and seven total in his career prior to Saturday night.

"I practiced hard this week," Wise said. "I watched a lot of film by myself and I just had to critique the small things and I finally put everything together.

"When you do the things your coaches tell you to do and you're blessed with talent like I am, that's what happens."

Wise said the defensive linemen had grown tired of hearing criticism.

"People were telling us we couldn't get any pressure, telling us our D-line is pretty much last in the country," Wise said. "We took that personal and played with an attitude."

LSU had allowed just 10 sacks in its first eight games this season and no opponent had more than two sacks. Auburn and Florida didn't have any sacks against the Tigers.

"I didn't expect the problems in protection that we got," LSU Coach Les Miles said. "We gave up sacks and we gave up pressures. We're going to have to look at it."

The Razorbacks took advantage of LSU starting left tackle Jerald Hawkins having to leave the game in the second quarter because of a knee injury. He was replaced sophomore K.J. Malone -- a son of former NBA star forward Karl Malone.

"I think the Arkansas defense is a very good defense," Miles said. "I don't think their twists and their movement was something we had not seen and I know we prepared for it."

Arkansas' defense set the tone on LSU's first offensive series when the Razorbacks pushed the Tigers back after Alex Collins lost a fumble that LSU recovered at the 50-yard line.

Instead of allowing LSU to take an early lead, the Razorbacks forced an incompletion, tackled Leonard Fournette for a 4-yard loss, then Wise and Jeremiah Ledbetter sacked Harris for a 6-yard loss, resulting in LSU punting on fourth-and-20 from its 40.

LSU drove to Arkansas' 45 later in the first quarter, but Wise sacked Harris for a 4-yard loss to force another punt.

"The defense played great," Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen said. "They really kind of won this game for us.

"They did a great job stopping LSU's offense. I was really proud of them."

The Razorbacks won their fourth consecutive game, but in their previous three victories -- 54-46 in four overtimes over Auburn, 63-28 over Tennessee-Martin and 53-52 in overtime at Ole Miss -- the defense struggled.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said the Razorbacks missed six sack opportunities against Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly, who they got down once.

"Our defense really, really responded well after last week," Bielema said. "I had a feeling they would."

Bielema said he had strong words for defensive coordinator Robb Smith and defensive assistants during a staff meeting.

"I laid into them hard Wednesday morning," Bielema said. "It was a really difficult for me, because I don't like being like that.

"It was early, early morning and it wasn't anything anyone wanted to hear, but I'm glad I did it now."

The Tigers opened the second quarter by driving to the Arkansas 30, but a face mask penalty on offensive tackle Vadal Alexander pushed LSU back to the Razorbacks 45. Three plays later Wise sacked Harris for a 10-yard loss and the Tigers had to punt from their 45.

"I think Deatrich ate something he wasn't supposed to," Arkansas freshman weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw said with a laugh. "Because he was doing a heck of a job."

Greenlaw's sack set up a touchdown. He forced a fumble by Harris that middle linebacker Brooks Ellis recovered at the LSU 11. Two plays later Collins scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to put the Razorbacks ahead 21-0 with 3:55 left before half-time.

"Coach called a blitz and I came off the edge," Greenlaw said Smith. "Thank God I made a good play."

Cornerback D.J. Dean and Ellis combined for Arkansas' fifth sack in the third quarter, for a 4-yard loss on third down, forcing a punt.

The Razorbacks held LSU to 330 yards in total offense. Fournette, averaging 173 rushing yards per game to lead the nation, had 19 carries for 91 yards.

"I don't even know how many yards Fournette wound up with at the end, but I knew we'd tackle well," Bielema said. "Even when he started rolling a little bit in that third quarter, I knew we'd shut that off and really try to make it a game where they beat us in the air."

Harris completed 21 of 35 passes for 271 yards, but Dean intercepted his last pass in the end zone with 3:26 left in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

"We had to dial it back and start with basics from day one," Wise said of Arkansas' focus on tackling in practice this week. "We wanted to tell everybody who we are.

"The D-line came together and we talked and said, 'The offense can't always score 50 points.' The defense had to step up, and tonight we did."

Sports on 11/15/2015