LSU’s offense took a while to get going.

The Tigers defense couldn’t maintain a fast start.

But both did just enough – with a boost from kicker Damian Ramos – for No 12 LSU (3-1, 2-0) to escape Tiger Stadium with a 34-31 victory against Arkansas on Saturday night.

LSU scored 31 of its points during the final 30 minutes, 30 seconds of game time, including Ramos’ game-winning 20-yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining.

Jayden Daniels and receiver Malik Nabers were outstanding for a second consecutive week and receiver Brian Thomas Jr. joined the passing party as the Tigers’ aerial game barely managed to out-do KJ Jefferson and the Razorbacks.

Throw in a strong 2nd half from Logan Diggs, who finished with 97 yards on 14 rushes, and interceptions by Andre Sam and Zy Alexander, and LSU wound up with a pretty balanced performance that was kind of rocky in the beginning.

Player of the Week: QB Jayden Daniels

Yeah, this is getting old. But for the 3rd consecutive game, Daniels was tremendous – and the primary reason LSU won. He wasn’t as efficient Saturday as he was a week earlier when he had a school single-game record 88.2 completion percentage (minimum 25 attempts) in a 41-14 win at Mississippi State, but he wasn’t too far off.

Daniels completed 20 of 29 for 320 yards with 4 touchdowns, though he did have 1 blemish with a poor interception. But beyond the numbers he was calmly efficient and had an answer for Jefferson every time the Tigers needed one – which was often.

Freshman of the Week: LB Whit Weeks

Weeks started in place of injured Omar Speights for the 2nd consecutive week, and for the 2nd consecutive week the freshman took advantage of the opportunity. Head coach Brian Kelly praised Weeks for putting his exceptional speed to good use in compiling a team-high 8 tackles against Mississippi State.

Weeks was active again against Arkansas and finished with 9 tackles and half a sack and was consistently disruptive all over the field.

Biggest surprise: The offense’s slow start

Arkansas only gave up 282 yards against BYU a week earlier, but its defense couldn’t get off the field with the game on the line as the Cougars finished the game with a 17-0 blitz.

LSU’s offense, which was extremely efficient against State, sputtered throughout the first half. The running game was inconsistent, Daniels was under pressure and inaccurate, and he and the receivers often seemed to be out of sync with one another. It was a much different story in the second half, and all’s well that ends well.

Biggest concern: The offensive line

This was supposed to be a strength of the team, but so far it hasn’t been quite as good as advertised. It hasn’t been bad and it has been fine periodically – but it has been inconsistent, and that was the case Saturday night.

The Tigers had 74 rushing yards in the 1st half and 41 of those came on 1 sprint by Josh Williams. As already mentioned, the Hogs were able to pressure Daniels, and that contributed to the early inconsistency of the passing game. This unit is capable of being very good, but it should have been more consistent than it has been during the 1st 3rd of the season.

Developing trend: Quick-strike passing game

The passing game wasn’t as efficient or consistent Saturday night as it was a week earlier, but for the 2nd consecutive week it did feature chunk plays for touchdowns.

Against Mississippi State, Daniels had early 26- and 33-yard touchdown passes to Nabers to get the offense rolling. Against Arkansas, the Tigers appeared headed to halftime with a 10-point deficit before Daniels and Thomas teamed for a 26-yard completion and a 49-yard touchdown to trim the deficit to 3 at the half. On the 3rd play of the 3rd quarter, they teamed for another 49-yard touchdown, giving LSU its 1st lead of the game. Daniels’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Nabers produced the Tigers’ final touchdown.

Key stat: Penalty disparity

LSU wasn’t perfect, but it was penalized 5 times for 51 yards – acceptable numbers.

Arkansas, which was hurt badly by 14 penalties in the loss to BYU, emphasized being better disciplined this week – and it was for more than half of this game. But in the 4th quarter as the teams were trading haymakers, the Razorbacks were constantly being set back by penalties that made keeping up with the Tigers more difficult.

First impression about Week 4 (at Ole Miss)

The Tigers and the Rebels could both use an open date next week after LSU went through a 60-minute heavyweight bout with the Razorbacks and Ole Miss lost at Alabama (24-10) in a physical game in which the Crimson Tide defense looked its best.

Both teams should be able to work out most of the kinks by Saturday when the Rebels will try to get their inconsistent running game on track against an LSU defense that allowed just 3.7 yards per rush to Arkansas. Ole Miss might need to lean on Jaxson Dart’s arm more than its running game, but Daniels is setting a pace that’s really hard for anyone to match.