LSU interim coach Frank Wilson was down 14-0 to a bad team in the first quarter.
His new quarterback misfired on his first two passes and flat didn’t look the part.
And his defense allowed 101 yards in the first quarter. That’s a rate of 404 for the game.
But in the end, LSU new starting quarterback Michael Van Buren outplayed talented and dangerous dual-threat Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green. Because LSU’s defense finally solved a running quarterback, limiting him to 70 net yards rushing on 17 carries, sacking him four times and intercepting two passes. Green finished just 11-of-19 passing for 165 yards.
LSU wins what is believed to be SEC’s first Interim Bowl to get bowl eligible:https://t.co/FUuRdI7sB3
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 15, 2025
And Wilson is 1-0 as LSU’s coach in Tiger Stadium after a gritty, 23-22 win over Arkansas in front of 75,000 on Saturday afternoon.
“I couldn’t be more overjoyed for our team,” Wilson said. “Remarkable day for our university and our football team – one that displayed resiliency and toughness. All the things that make us Tigers. We were down 14-0.”
The Tigers (6-4, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) did only beat an Arkansas team that fell to 2-8 and 0-6 in the SEC, but after the month LSU has had on and off the field, the Razorbacks may as well be Ohio State.
And LSU’s defense did limit Arkansas to just 15 points after it put up 30 or more in three of its last four games. The Hogs also came in at No. 8 in the nation in total offense with 484 yards a game. But after a rough start, LSU held them to just 340 with three takeaways and hurled a shutout in the fourth quarter.
“The defense did their thing. They saved us,” Van Buren said.
Trailing 23-22 with 7:53 left, Arkansas reached the LSU 29-yard line after Green completed passes of 16 and 13 yards before he ran for a 7-yard gain. But defensive tackle Dominick McKinley and linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. got Green for a 1-yard loss on the next play. Then cornerback Mansoor Delane broke up a Green pass. And on 4th-and-4 from the LSU 30, Scott Starzyk missed a 48-yard field goal off the right goal post with 5:08 to go.
Van Buren then did what Nussmeier usually couldn’t or wanted to do. On 2nd-and-16 after yet another false start, he scrambled for a 35-yard gain to the Arkansas 41-yard line. Then LSU’s running game did what it usually hadn’t done all year. It rushed six straight times for 31 yards behind Caden Durham and Harlem Berry – hard yards up the middle to garner two first downs and run out the clock.
With 1:10 left on the Arkansas 10, Van Buren went into Victory Buren formation three straight times, and it was over. Durham led LSU with 65 yards rushing on 12 carries and Berry had 52 on 11 rushes.
“He started off a little slow, but he got going,” Wilson said of Van Buren, who finished 21-of-31 passing for 221 yards with the game-winning, 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Bauer Sharp after a scramble for the 23-22 lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Van Buren also rushed 10 times for 36 net yards.
“He got more comfortable,” Wilson said. “He began to take control of the game. I thought he played admirably.”
So did the rest of the team.
“I am so proud of this team and how they represented themselves and this university in a never-say-die spirit,” Wilson said. “They kept on fighting and punching. I am proud to be in this position to lead them to victory. We had what it takes to win this game.”
Near the end of Wilson’s postgame press conference, Durham somehow got through a guarded, closed door to surprise Wilson in the press room.
“Congratulations, coach Wilson, on your first win in Tiger Stadium,” Durham said.
After, he explained how he got through security.
“I told them, please excuse me,” he said “I got something I want to say.”
Wilson, 1-1 as LSU’s interim coach, has two more games to continue making his and his team’s statement.
“To me,” LSU defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory said, “you can’t even tell he’s an interim coach. Coach Wilson has the mindset already.”
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