No. 7 LSU survives Arkansas, 13-10, behind freshman Harold Perkins, defense

Points were difficult to find Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.

But, fortunately for LSU, freshman linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. and the purple-and-gold defense appeared to be everywhere.

The No. 7 Tigers (8-2, 6-1) swarmed and stifled Arkansas (5-5, 2-4), led by a pair of backup quarterbacks, to overcome its own offensive shortcomings and finally ice away a fourth-straight SEC win, 13-10.

"All over the field, impacted the game obviously to the level where we win the game because of his final play, too," coach Brian Kelly said. "Multi-dimensional player, makes a great play in pass coverage getting under a throw late in the game. I just don't think there's enough superlatives to talk about this young man as a true freshman coming into his own. As you can imagine, he was awarded the game ball."

Perkins finished with eight tackles, including four sacks, a pair of forced fumbles and game-sealing plays on the Razorbacks' final two possessions.

The New Orleans native, a five-star signee out of Cypress, Texas, drilled Arkansas quarterback Cade Fortin to break up a third-and-10 pass attempt with just over four minutes remaining to preserve the three-point lead.

And three minutes later, he hit Fortin again to force a fumble and punctuate the LSU victory.

"He got sick before the game," Kelly said. "He threw up as we were going into our team meal, team meeting, and I said, 'Hey, you know MJ (Michael Jordan) threw up when he had his greatest game,' and he said, 'Who's MJ?' I was like, 'Man, I am getting so old.' But, yeah, he's pretty special."

The Tigers are now one more outcome — a win Nov. 26 at Texas A&M or a loss by No. 11 Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1) in any of its three final games — from officially punching their ticket to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game in December in coach Brian Kelly's first season.

Not much of Saturday's latest big step that direction was particularly pretty.

On an icy late-morning and early-afternoon on the road, LSU had to metaphorically sweat out a three-point defeat of its struggling and injury-hampered hotst.

The Razorbacks became just the third opponent since at least 1995 to record seven sacks in a single game against the Tigers and snatched multiple prime opportunities to play spoiler.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and company had a seemingly promising opening drive end in an interception and another first-quarter possession fumbled away to set the Razorbacks up just 10 yards from goal.

But the Tigers stood tall defensively on both occasions, including a four-down stop on the latter, to hold Arkansas scoreless off the turnovers and to just a field goal in the half.

Sophomore kicker Cam Little put the Razorbacks on the board with a 28-yard field goal with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

Perkins set up the LSU answer early in the second with his first sack and forced fumble, which junior defensive end B.J. Ojulari recovered at the Razorbacks' 37-yard line.

Freshman kicker Damian Ramos added a game-tying 38-yard field goal five plays later, then a go-ahead 29-yarder on the Tigers' next possession.

Daniels and the offense finally converted another short field midway through the third quarter into their long touchdown.

A pack of defenders closed in on Arkansas quarterback Malik Hornsby, who slipped on fourth down for a 12-yard loss back to his own 40-yard line.

Daniels found junior receiver Kayshon Boutte four plays later for 26 yards, easily LSU's longest pass of the day, down toward the goal line, which junior running back Josh Williams barreled across on the ensuing first down to stretch the lead to 13-3.

Fortin found senior receiver Matt Landers for a 40-yard strike up the left sideline early in the fourth quarter to end a drought of more than 36 minutes.

But the Tigers would allow nothing more.

Perkins made sure of that.

Sophomore linebacker Greg Penn III racked up career-high nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and pass breakup in an impressive performance of his own.

Ojulari added seven tackles and the fumble recovery, and senior linebacker Micah Baskerville and junior defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy finished with six tackles each.

Sophomore defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo added three tackles, including one for loss, and recovered the final fumble forced by Perkins.

Williams led the offense with a career-high 122 yards on 19 carries, and senior John Emery Jr. added a 36-yard scamper to finish with 40 yards on three touches.

Daniels went 8-for-15 through the air for 86 yards and rushed 19 times for a season-low 10 yards.