FAYETTEVILLE — Despite sitting at 2-7 and recently ineligible to make a bowl game, Arkansas’ players are still fired up about playing LSU.

Head coach Chad Morris tried to use the cliche that it’s the most important game on the schedule because it’s the next game, but the Razorbacks from Louisiana don’t even try to hide that it “means the world” to them.

“I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t check this game off the calendar every year, being a Louisiana guy, being from there and having to go back there in December,” wide receiver Jared Cornelius said. “So of course we want to win this game, not just me, but all the guys, especially the guys from Louisiana.”

On top of it being the annual Battle for the Golden Boot, it is also senior night, meaning it will be the last time 15 seniors will play inside Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

That makes it particularly important for the seniors from Louisiana - Cornelius, fullback Kendrick Jackson and safety Santos Ramirez.

“I know this hasn’t been my best year for me or for the team,” Ramirez said. “I just want to go out there and give everything I’ve got the last time I can at home. There’s no better opponent to do it against than LSU.”

What makes the game special for several of the players from Louisiana is that they know a lot of LSU’s players. They played with and against them in high school, competed in 7-on-7 tournaments and attended many of the same camps.

Arkansas linebacker De’Jon Harris got to know LSU linebacker Devin White well throughout the recruiting process, as the Razorbacks heavily recruited both of them. Now, as they battle for the SEC lead in tackles, they frequently text each other.

“I know the majority of the team,” Harris said. “It’s going to mean a lot. It will be a lot of fun to play against them, too.”

It also doesn’t hurt that there’s a 175-pound, 4-foot trophy involved. Since the Golden Boot was awarded in 1996, the Tigers lead the series 14-8 and they’re favored by about two touchdowns Saturday.

“Whenever you have a trophy involved, some hardware you can play for at the end of the season every year, it means something,” Cornelius said. “You have a physical reward you can take and show and take pictures with an carry around, so it’s a big deal to us and it should be to the fans and I’m sure it is.”

The 13.5-point spread is understandable considering LSU is No. 9 in the latest AP poll, but was No. 3 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings before losing to No. 1 Alabama over the weekend.

“I tell guys all the time, this is like our bowl game,” Ramirez said. “Of course, we are not going to one, but this is a top-10 team and we can go out here and say we still have our cojones.”

Arkansas and LSU used to play the Friday after Thanksgiving, but it was replaced by the “Battle Line Rivalry” with Missouri for the Razorbacks and a matchup with Texas A&M for the Tigers.

Playing it a few weeks earlier doesn’t change the significance of the game, though.

“They just show me what time the game is playing and I show up on Saturday, Friday, Thursday,” Cornelius said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re playing at the beginning of the season, at the end of the year, the trophy’s going to be there. We’re playing for the same thing.”

For Cornelius, Ramirez, Harris and the other 10 players from Louisiana, bragging rights are on the line Saturday when Arkansas hosts its first night game of the season.

“It’s important for us,” Harris said. “We want to win and go back home and brag; win the trophy and bring it back for this program, too.”

It’s safe to say they’ll be ready to go when the game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.

“This week speaks for itself,” Ramirez said. “You don’t need a motivational speech, you don’t need anybody for a pep talk.

“The fire is already burning. I am just ready to go out there and unleash it.”