|
|
 |
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- LaBrandon Toefield ran all over Arkansas and Louisiana State has a chance to march all the way to Atlanta. Toefield rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns and Louisiana State moved to within one victory of the Southeastern Conference title game with a 41-38 victory over No. 25 Arkansas. LSU (7-3, 4-3 SEC West), which overcame five turnovers, will play Auburn next week with the winner claiming the West title and advancing to the SEC title game in Atlanta on December 8. "We had five turnovers and we gave up some big plays on defense," LSU coach Nick Saban said. "But when you keep competing and keep playing, you still have a chance to win. We really didn't have our 'A' game today. I'm not sure why." Toefield, who carried 30 times, opened the scoring with a 62-yard run just 1:28 into the contest. He added a nine-yard TD run in the third quarter and gave the Tigers a 41-25 lead with 8:21 left on a 17-yard TD run. Toefield raced up the middle for his final score immediately after an interception by safety Ryan Clark. Toefield has 18 rushing TDs this season, breaking the school record of 17 set by Charles Alexander in 1977. Arkansas (7-4, 4-3) rallied on a pair of TD passes by Zak Clark to make it a three-point game, but could get no closer and had its six-game winning streak snapped. "I really thought that we had a chance to win. I think that LSU realizes that they are lucky," Arkansas coach Houston Nutt said. "They deserved to win the game, but they were very fortunate today. We had our chances. We put our guys in a position to win, but we just didn't get it done." Clark connected on an 11-yard strike to George Wilson and a 15-yarder to Sparky Hamilton. Rohan Davey of LSU threw for 359 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scores went to Josh Reed, who caught seven passes for 183 yards. Davey, who completed 19-of-33 passes with four interceptions, threw a 20-yard TD pass to Reed with 51 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 20-19 halftime lead. The score came 28 seconds after Arkansas had taken the lead on a 15-yard TD pass from Matt Jones to Richard Smith. Jones scored on a three-yard run in the first quarter that tied the game at 7-7. "Our team has so much heart, it's just great," Jones said. "Even when you are down, you know you've got a shot to win." Nutt used three quarterbacks, with Clark getting the bulk of the time and completing 10-of-22 passes for 137 yards. Davey threw TD passes of 60 yards to Michael Clayton in the third quarter and 38 yards to Reed in the fourth. Hamilton also caught a 61-yard TD pass from Matt Jones in the third quarter to cut LSU's lead to 27-25. The Tigers responded with Reed's second TD catch and Toefield's 17-yard run.
|
