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BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- After Gerry DiNardo got the boot, LSU coach Hal Hunter collected "The Golden Boot." In his first game since replacing the fired DiNardo, Hunter guided LSU to a surprising 35-10 Southeastern Conference West victory over No. 22 Arkansas, ending the longest losing streak in school history. The Tigers had lost eight straight games under DiNardo, who was fired November 15 and replaced by Hunter, a member of DiNardo's LSU staff since 1995 who was named interim coach. If this is Hunter's only game as LSU coach, it was a good one. Rondell Mealey and Reggie Robinson scored two touchdowns each and Rohan Davey threw three TD passes as the Tigers wrested away "The Golden Boot" from the neighboring Razorbacks (7-4, 4-4 SEC West). LSU (3-8, 1-7) snapped an eight-game skid and won the trophy, a 24-karat gold piece in the shape of Arkansas and Louisiana that forms a boot. Arkansas' bid for a New Year's Day bowl took a major blow. The Razorbacks got a 26-yard field goal from Tony Dodson late in the first quarter but did not score again until the game was out of hand as the Tigers scored TDs on four straight possessions. Domanick Davis returned a punt 20 yards to the Arkansas 28, then ran 17 and 11 yards on consecutive plays for the go-ahead score with 10:23 left in the second quarter. Davey completed 10-of-12 passes for 224 yards. He came on for Josh Booty, who completed 4-of-6 passes for 43 yards on the first three possessions but was pulled by Hunter. Davey connected with Robinson for a 67-yard TD pass and a 14-3 lead with 4:15 to go in the first half. Robinson caught five passes for 154 yards. After an interception by Johnny Mitchell at the LSU 46 in the final minute, Davey and Mealey hooked up for a 48-yard touchdown that made it 21-3 with 26 seconds left. After the Tigers received the second-half kickoff, Davey found Robinson for 15 yards and ran for 18 more before Mealey capped a 64-yard march with a 20-yard TD run. Mealey had 82 yards on 17 carries and added 70 yards on four receptions. Clint Stoerner, who was 19-of-36 for 252 yards, threw a 15-yard TD pass to tight end Joe Dean Davenport that cut the deficit to 28-10 on the next possession. But Arkansas got no closer and Davey capped the scoring with a 60-yard TD pass to Robinson in the fourth quarter. The Tigers did a solid job of shutting down the ground game of the Razorbacks, holding Chrys Chukwuma to 64 yards and Arkansas to 97 total. They also twice sacked Stoerner, who had not been taken down in his previous two games. Arkansas was outgained, 411-387, and committed 12 penalties.
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