BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- Louisiana State was nine seconds away from a berth in the Southeastern Conference championship game last season.
Arkansas ended up making the trip to Atlanta when Matt Jones tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Decori Birmingham, lifting the Razorbacks to a stunning 21-20 victory over LSU, which squandered a 10-point lead in the final 6 1/2 minutes.
The third-ranked Tigers look to finish the job Friday when they host Arkansas in the SEC regular-season finale for both teams.
LSU (10-1, 6-1) needs to beat Arkansas to reach its second SEC championship game in three years.
"I think what is most important is that every time we play these guys, at least the last two years that we have played them, they always come back in the game," LSU coach Nick Saban said. "Two years ago, we were ahead, 41-25, and it got to 41-38 and we have to make a first down with a minute to go."
LSU, which has climbed to third in the latest BCS standings and is still in the mix for the Sugar Bowl, also can tie a school record for wins. The 1958 team went 11-0 en route to the national championship.
The Tigers handed Mississippi its first conference loss last week, defeating the Rebels, 17-14, and spoiling Eli Manning's final home game. Matt Mauck threw two touchdown passes for the Tigers, who harrassed Manning with relentless pressure.
LSU sacked Manning three times and limited the Rebels to 27 rushing yards on 21 carries.
In 2001, LSU defeated Tennessee, 30-21, to capture its first SEC title since 1986. The Tigers seemed headed back to the SEC championship game last year, building a 17-7 lead against Arkansas. The Razorbacks closed to 17-14 on Fred Talley's 56-yad TD run with 6:33 left before LSU appeared to ice the game on John Corbello's 29-yard field goal with 40 seconds left.
However, Jones drove the Razorbacks 81 yards in 31 seconds, setting up the winning score with a 50-yard toss to Richard Lewis.
A year later, Arkansas (8-3, 4-3) is facing an LSU team that leads the nation in scoring defense, yielding just 9.4 points per game.
The Razorbacks drubbed Mississippi State, 52-6, last week for their third straight victory. Arkansas forced eight turnovers, including six interceptions.
Cedric Cobbs, the SEC's leading rusher, ran for 150 yards and two TDS on 30 carries, to become the sixth Arkansas running back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He increased his total to 1,010 yards. Jones completed 11-of-16 passes for 187 yards and two TDs and rushed for 73 yards on six carries.
LSU leads the all-time series, 29-17-2.
