Hogs extinguish Booty's hot streak

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LSU's Josh Booty might have entered Friday's game against Arkansas as the hottest quarterback in the SEC, but he walked off the War Memorial Stadium turf nothing more than drenched and defeated.
In LSU's past 4 games -- all victories -- Booty had completed 73 of 132 passes for 1,036 yards with 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He also had led the Tigers to the brink of a New Year's Day bowl invitation.
Cold, rainy weather and a revved-up Razorbacks defense, however, put an end to Booty's hot streak and left the Tigers crossing their fingers for a berth in a Jan. 1 bowl game.
"We just didn't play pitch-and-catch," Booty said after Arkansas' 14-3 victory. "I don't know if it was the weather or what they were doing defensively, but we didn't get the job done today."
Call that an understatement.
Victimized by dropped passes and dead-on hits from Razorbacks defenders, Booty finished the day 6 of 27 for 65 yards and 2 interceptions. It marked the first time all season LSU had been held without a touchdown.
"We didn't look like the same LSU team this week as we have in the past," Booty said.
Booty's first pass, on LSU's first play from scrimmage, was intercepted by Arkansas linebacker Quinton Caver and returned 33 yards for a touchdown. As bad as that was, things would get worse for Booty.
After completing 5 of 10 passes for 60 yards in the first half, Booty connected on only 1 of 17 attempts for 5 yards in the second half.
In addition to battling the elements, Booty was facing an Arkansas defense playing its second game under the direction of co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach John Thompson. Mixing its coverages, pass-rushing schemes and alignments, Arkansas kept LSU off balance all afternoon.
"It just didn't seem like things meshed for us offensively," Booty said.
Five Richie Butler punts downed inside the LSU 20-yard line didn't help Booty's cause.
"It just seemed like our backs were against the wall down there," Booty said. "They had a couple of punts down there inside the 5, and we got a penalty on one drive. It just seemed like we couldn't get anything going ... but also they made it very difficult."
The Razorbacks also made life difficult for wide receiver Josh Reed, who entered the game averaging 6.4 receptions and 111.1 yards a game, both of which topped the SEC.
Reed had only one 16-yard reception.
"It was just that they came out and had the crowd behind them, they had the intensity, they had the momentum going, and we could never get hold of it," Reed said. "They wanted it more than us, and they played better than us."
The better play included an Arkansas secondary that allowed 14 touchdown passes in its first nine game but none in its last two.
"Our secondary played very big today," senior linebacker J.J. Jones said. "I think they grew up a lot these last two games, and that's what we needed."
It wasn't, however, what a red-hot Booty and LSU needed.
"There's no question that the weather had an effect on the game, but we dropped balls, we didn't throw balls as well as we usually throw them, and we had some that we could've caught that would've made a difference in the game," LSU Coach Nick Saban said. "We didn't make any big plays out there on offense today."

This article was published on Saturday, November 25, 2000

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