Don’t Believe Your Lyin’ Eyes: Hogs’ KJ Jefferson Didn’t Get to End Zone

Razorbacks lose to No. 23 Liberty and Sam Pittman may have seen it coming

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas fans will want to believe the officials were the reason they lost to Liberty on Saturday afternoon.

Many will continue to convince themselves Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson got into the end zone for a two-point conversion that would have tied things with 1:11 left to play.

He didn't make it. Oh, he ended up there, but his elbow hit the ground a couple of blades of grass before with the ball in his hand.

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson comes up just short of getting the call on a two-point conversion attempt with 1:11 to play in a 21-19 loss to the Liberty Flames on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman points at the replay board after officials ruled quarterback KJ Jefferson was short on a two-point conversion attempt that would have sent Saturday's game into overtime. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

It doesn't matter now. Officially, he didn't get there.

And Hogs coach Sam Pittman saw some warning signs.

"I knew we weren't quite as locked in as we need to be, but tried to adjust that on the bus, during the practice, after the practice," he said later.

That usually isn't the best plan, but at that point it may have been all Pittman had left. He's the one that's going to have to deal with the fallout.

A guess is he's looking at a tough week. Oh, and LSU comes to town next week. They are the front-runners now in the SEC West after an overtime win over Alabama on Saturday night.

"Our job is to put the best team we can out there and win ballgames," Pittman said. "It’ll be no different next week."

It better be different or this Razorback team might be in serious jeopardy of having to beat Missouri the day after Thanksgiving to even qualify for a postseason trip to Birmingham, Ala.

The loss dropped the Hogs to 5-4 on the season with the Tigers and Ole Miss coming to town the next two weeks.

"We weren't playing inspired football," Pittman said.

Liberty Flames defensive tackle Dre Butler (5) and defensive end Durrell Johnson (11) tackle Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson (1) in the second half at Razorback Stadium. Liberty won 21-19. (Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports)

There will be a jillion questions coming from this game, starting with the health of quarterback KJ Jefferson, who was wildly erratic from the start.

The entire offense was dysfunctional for the entire game. A stretch of a few good plays would be followed by either one of the 14 tackles for 57 yards in losses or a confounding penalty.

As much as anything, though, Pittman almost seemed dazed later. He admitted they haven't seen this often in his three seasons. "This" is losing to a team they should have handled routinely.

"I was worried about it because of the way we played against Missouri State," he said referring to a 38-27 win that was actually much closer than it sounds.

He tried repeating to the players Liberty was a two-point conversion from being undefeated, getting bowl eligible and a lot of other things.

"I tried to go with all those things to motivate," Pittman said. "We had pretty good practices up until Thursday. We had a couple of mistakes on Friday walkthrough that is not typical."

In the old days before all these rules basically took a lot of what coaches did to get a team straightened out aren't allowed. That may be why they aren't still scrimmaging at the football center.

The other part is that probably wouldn't work. Logic and reason didn't work against Liberty and the Hogs went down in flames.

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Quincey McAdoo blocks a punt by Liberty during the second half Saturday at Razorback Stadium. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

It's history now and probably a little early to start drawing a lot of conclusions.

A lot was expected of this team in August. Those expectations are in the dumpster now. Running the table just equals last year and the bowl game won't be as good.

A loss to a non-Power 5 team does that.

Right now, though, Pittman has to figure out how to get a team that was just humiliated on homecoming by a team nobody expected.

"With LSU coming in here, we can’t do anything but go out and have good practices, work hard and see if we can’t get a win next week," he said.

There's no way to know, but the guess here is the speech to the team wasn't that subdued and probably won't be next week.

It shouldn't be.

HOGS FEED:

SATURDAY SHOWS BROOKS, FOUCHA MADE RIGHT DECISION TO TRANSFER TO LSU

ARKANSAS FANS IRATE FROM START TO FINISH SATURDAY

SEC ROUND-UP: LIST FOR AUBURN COACH GROWING, PLUS MORE

GUIDE TO NOT MESSING UP PERFECT SPORTS WEEKEND

HOGS LOOKING TO SHOW TEXAS GAME NOT WHO THEY ARE

GONZAGA MOVING TO BIG 12 MIGHT NOT BE BEST THING FOR RAZORBACKS

WHAT MIKE NEIGHBORS, PLAYERS THOUGHT AFTER AN EXHBITION WIN LITTLE TOO CLOSE FOR SOME

WHAT LIBERTY BRINGS TO FAYETTEVILLE FOR SATURDAY'S GAME AGAINST THE RAZORBACKS

SEC ROUNDUP: AUBURN DEFENSIVE PLAYERS CLEAR ON WHO THEY WANT TO REPLACE BRYAN HARSIN

RAZORBACKS' NICK SMITH LANDS ON SEC COACHES' FIRST TEAM

WATCH: HOGS' DREW SANDERS, KETRON JACKSON ON FACING LIBERTY ON SATURDAY

WATCH: RAZORBACKS' LUKE JONES, HUDSON CLARK AFTER PRACTICE TUESDAY

LIBERTY'S HUGH FREEZE AFRAID OF COLD, DOESN'T LIKE FAYETTEVILLE GAMES

ANTHONY BLACK'S DUNCANVILLE TEAM STRIPPED OF STATE TITLE, COACH SUSPENDED

NOW THAT ARKANSAS RAN OFF HARSIN, AUBURN NEEDS LIST OF QUALITIES TO SEEK OUT IN NEW SHINING 'KNIGHT'

AUBURN WANTED TO CAP WEEKEND BY FIRING HARSIN & HIRING HOGS' AD

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