LSU made sure Caden Durham got the ball in his hands.

The freshman running back touched the ball on three of the Tigers’ first four plays Saturday night against Arkansas – first on a 7-yard catch-and-run before making two handoffs, one for 4 yards and one for 6.

The positive yardage gave LSU advantageous downs and yardage and set the tone for an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that opened the game.

It was a harbinger of the LSU offense to come, as the Tigers finished the game with 158 yards on 37 carries in their 34-10 victory over the Razorbacks on Saturday night in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

LSU finished the first half with as many rushing yards as it had in all of last week against Ole Miss, reaching the 84-yard mark on nine fewer carries.

It struggled to run the ball in the third quarter, but finished strong with 56 yards rushing on the game’s second-to-last drive, resulting in a touchdown that gave the Tigers a 24-point lead.

It was a big step in the right direction for LSU, especially given its struggles a week ago and Arkansas’ solid run defense this week.

Arkansas hasn’t been as dominant against the run as Ole Miss, but the Razorbacks entered Saturday having given up just 106.5 yards per game on the ground, good enough for fifth place in the conference and 28th in the country was.

LSU’s early success locally was due to two things. For one thing, the Tigers did a good job of getting Arkansas to defend them sideways, preventing them from playing downhill. They also got strong performances from Durham and the rest of their running backs, as LSU’s ball carriers capitalized on the holes the offensive line created for them.

It wasn’t just Durham that played well. The freshman had 21 carries for 101 yards, but sophomore Kaleb Jackson also managed 30 yards on five carries. Sixth-grader Josh Williams gained 18 yards on five rushing attempts.

Together with the running backs, LSU’s offensive line provided a strong push at the line of scrimmage while protecting redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier throughout the night.

The device was not perfect. Penalties, including six on offense, stalled too many drives. As a team, the Tigers finished the game with 11 infractions that cost them 80 yards.

But when the offense needed to step up to milk the clock while taking a 17-point lead with 10:42 left in the fourth quarter, this is what happened. The line opened up holes in the running game for Durham, Jackson and Williams, leading to a 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that lasted 8:22.

The result gave LSU a commanding 24-point lead with less than three minutes to play, essentially securing its most significant win of the season so far.

Going into last weekend, the conventional wisdom was that the Tigers would need to win at least four of their next five games to make it to the final stages of the College Football Playoff.

Two games later, LSU is 2-0. It wasn’t always perfect. Last week the Tigers won despite their pedestrian play.

But against Arkansas, LSU won in part because of its rushing attack. It was the kind of improvement his offense needed to show before next weekend’s showdown against Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.