Entering Saturday's 21-19 loss to Liberty, Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson had thrown just one interception on the season. He threw two picks in the loss to the Flames and made a handful of other plays that were uncharacteristic of the redshirt junior play caller.
Head coach Sam Pittman said that Jefferson was not 100% this week. Jefferson did not throw at all during Arkansas' bye week two weeks ago, and according to Pittman, Jefferson didn't throw many passes in practice leading up to Saturday either.
"He was banged up this week," Pittman said. "He did practice every day. He didn't throw a whole lot this week but he did practice. Yeah, I think he's sore."
Arkansas wide receiver Jadon Haselwood said backup quarterback Malik Hornsby took most of the snaps in practice this week, and even he wasn't sure who would start at quarterback for the Hogs.
"Obviously this week, Malik was getting most of the snaps and throwing to us and stuff like that," Haselwood said. "We were just out of sync. I mean, I didn’t know who was starting coming into the game just like you all."
It was apparent from the get-go that Jefferson was not like himself. Liberty's defense was playing tough, but the Arkansas offense, which ranked 13th in the country in total offense entering the game, was not on its A-game.
"It just seemed like we were certainly out of sync for whatever reason," Pittman said. "Maybe it’s because KJ didn’t throw the ball a tremendous amount this week. I don’t know. But we were out of rhythm. He seemed to be out of rhythm back there. Either that or we weren’t getting open because he was having a hard time finding receivers."
Pittman was asked if there was ever any consideration to take Jefferson out, due to him being banged up, and roll with Hornsby.
He said he talked to offensive coordinator Kendal Briles about the possibility of making that move, but Briles said staying with Jefferson was the best option.
"He told me what I needed to hear, that KJ is our guy and he’ll get going here eventually," Pittman said. "And he is our guy. That was, in my opinion, that was the right thing to do, leaving him in there. And he did. He got us all the way down there to evidently that far to tie the game."
Jefferson finished the game 23-37 passing with 284 yards passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He added 33 yards on the ground, a number that would be higher if he didn't take four sacks, the most he's taken since last season's Outback Bowl win over Penn State.
The sacks were just four of the 14 tackles for loss allowed by the Arkansas offensive line, and that number is the most Liberty has ever had in a game since joining the FBS.
"I didn’t think we protected all that bad, even though we gave up the four sacks," Pittman said. "Either he wasn’t seeing the open guy or we just weren’t getting open, because I didn’t think our protection was all that bad. He was back there for quite a while sometimes, most of the time. On the run game, it was… It was bad."
Though things were ugly for a majority of the game, Jefferson led the Razorbacks down the field for a pair of scoring drives in the fourth quarter to put the team in position to tie the game.
A 5-yard touchdown pass to Trey Knox, followed by a two-point conversion from Rocket Sanders, made it a 21-13 game with 7:42 remaining. Jefferson found Knox again for an 8-yard score with 1:11 left, but Jefferson came up inches short on a QB keeper on the two-point conversion attempt.
Pittman said that although Jefferson didn't play as well as he has in the past, there wasn't a lack of want to.
"Obviously, he didn’t play as well as he had," Pittman said. "I’ll say this, he wanted to win. I mean, he was busting his butt down there at end and making plays, trying to get us to overtime. He just didn’t throw the ball as well as he normally does."
Unfortunately for Pittman and crew, the Hogs fell short and dropped to 5-4 on the year. Facing them now is a grueling three-game stretch against SEC West foes LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri.
Arkansas will host LSU next Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. The game will be televised on either CBS or ESPN.
