Arkansas sophomore quarterback Ryan Mallett was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on Saturday Night in Tiger Stadium.Mallett flashed glimpses of his tremendous potential and showed signs he still needs to grow as a player in a 33-30 overtime loss to LSU on Saturday.The LSU defense had a solid game plan for the quarterback who came into the game leading the Southeastern Conference’s top-rated offense and is well on his way to smashing every single Arkansas passing record.Mallett came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. He connected on four of his first six passes, two of which went for 27 yards.But the Tigers pressured Mallett heavily throughout the first half. After his strong start to the game, Mallett’s efficiency plummeted in the face of a heavy pass rush. Mallett completed just 3-of-13 passes in the second quarter after his hot start.”We started too slow on offense,” Mallett said. “I take full responsibility for that. We can’t start like that against a decent team.”The game plan was evident on Arkansas’ first possession of the game. The Arkansas offense was moving the ball at will against the LSU defense, going 52 yards in the first three plays from scrimmage.On first-and-10 from the LSU 28-yard line, LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis dialed up a blitz that forced Mallett to leave the pocket before he was ready after a play-action fake.Mallett was on the run and heaved a pass for his receiver downfield, but he overthrew him by a couple yards and was intercepted by junior safety Chad Jones at the LSU 5-yard line.Mallett was scrambling for much of the first half while trying to hit his receivers downfield.He completed just 7-of-20 passes in the first half which saw LSU head to the locker room with a 17-6 lead.”We came out in the first half fired up,” said LSU senior linebacker Perry Riley. “We played a really good first half, but in the second half we kind of let it get away from us.”Arkansas countered the aggressive LSU defense in the second half with plays designed specifically to take the bite out of the blitz.”We certainly did a nice job making the adjustments at halftime, coming out and competing hard,” said Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino after the game. “We got in the position where we had the chance to win the game. “The remedy for Arkansas’ stagnant offense was the successful incorporation of the running game.On Arkansas’ first possession of the second half, the Razorbacks called three straight runs by freshman running back Ronnie Wingo. Wingo had runs of 9 and 4 yards and capped off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run.The Razorbacks improved their running game significantly in the second half. After averaging 2.7 yards on 19 carries in the first half, Arkansas hit several big plays in the second half and averaged 6.6 yards on 15 carries.”They came out in the second half and ran quick draws, and they were running the ball more than we expected,” Riley said. “We were kind of expecting them to pass.”The running plays didn’t allow the LSU defense to attack Mallett as they had in the first half. The Tigers had three sacks in the first half but were not able to bring Mallett down in the second half.Mallett started to show the crowd of 93,013 why Arkansas fans are salivating at the possibility of two more years with Mallett at the helm of the offense.The Razorbacks scored on four consecutive drives to open up the second half.  Mallett came through in the clutch on several plays, especially on Arkansas’ final touchdown drive when he converted two third-and-long plays with completions of 18 and 23 yards. Mallett’s only touchdown of the night was also a clutch play. On fourth-and-9 from the LSU 16-yard line, Mallett found sophomore receiver Joe Adams in the end zone to put the Razorbacks ahead, 30-27 with 1:18 remaining in the game.”That just shows how much character our team has,” Mallett said about the final drive after the game. “We battled back. We played our butts off. Everybody on the team did, but we didn’t pull it off tonight.”LSU got the first possession of the overtime period and relied on the steady leg of junior kicker Josh Jasper to gain a three-point advantage against Arkansas.But Mallett and the Razorbacks couldn’t get anything going in the extra period. Mallett’s first pass sailed incomplete, and his pass on third-and-12 went for 8 yards to set up the missed field goal that clinched the game in overtime for the Tigers. ____Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]