One Throw-away in Hogs' Final Drive Shows KJ's Maturity This Season

KJ Jefferson is starting to get pretty good directing these late drives for scores like he did against Mississippi State

Maybe nothing showed Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson's maturity more than a pass he just threw away.

On a final 10-play, 75-yard drive that used all but 21 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter, Jefferson rolled right, looking for wide receiver Treylon Burks.

Burks was laying on the ground, drawing a holding call against Mississippi State.

"I saw it the whole time," Jefferson said later. "I saw the guy tackle Treylon and I just had to put the ball in the area and made it seem like he couldn’t get to it and I knew the flag was coming."

It showed a lot of what Hogs coach Sam Pittman had talked about just minutes earlier in his postgame press conference.

"He was so poised in that two-minute drive," he said about Jefferson. "Once you do it once, you become more confident.

"I'm not saying I knew we were going to go down and score because that's a lie, but I felt confident that if we got the first first down in that drive and we did fast, I felt like we could score."

In Jefferson's first start last year in the final game against Missouri, the Hogs drove down and scored, but left too much time on the clock.

"My biggest concern at that time is when to call a timeout and when not to," Pittman said. "We went though the same thing against Missouri last year and I was trying to be smart, but leave as few seconds (as possible)."

He probably was concerned he might have left too much, though, even with 21 seconds.

Will Rogers completed three straight passes and Mississippi State suddenly had a shot to tie the game at the final gun with a 40-yard field goal.

Nolan McCord kicked it low and to the left, giving the Hogs a win that clinched a bowl spot.

"I knew he was going to miss it," Pittman joked in his postgame. He was actually hoping ... strongly.

Without Jefferson's poise in the final drive, though, he might not have had that.

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