Hogs Ride Stars in Wild Duel to Win, Clinging to Bowl Eligibility

KJ Jefferson, Raheim "Rocket" Sanders stand tall and snap losing streak, beating Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Spirit. Getting the spirit back despite the problems was something coach Sam Pittman stressed all week, but they overcame a lot for a 39-36 win.  Miscues, miscues, more miscues. After Arkansas preached change for two weeks, the same problems happened again.

"The kids played their butt off," Pittman said.  "Kenny Guiton called a great game. The defense played. I mean the first time in school history that we’ve won in Gainesville beating the University of Florida in Florida. A big deal. That wasn’t a 2-6 team. We were 0-0. But I’m so proud of this football team." 

Penalties threatened to kill the team, but instead of folding late in the game, they rode their two best players on offense to victory for the first time on the road in the Swamp. After Florida missed a game-winning field goal with four seconds left in regulation, the Razorbacks had new life heading into overtime. 

"Coach Pittman basically told us ‘We’re going to win the game,’" quarterback KJ Jefferson said postgame. "It was just like two years ago versus LSU, went into overtime and we wanted to send the defense out their first to send a statement and they came up big time. It was all on the offense. We overcame some adversity, some penalties, and like I said we stuck together and we knew we were going to win. It was a team confidence thing."

The perfect culmination of complementary football that this team has desperately lacked for over a month finally came together. Arkansas forced a quick field goal attempt on the Gators' possession in overtime. Needing a touchdown to win it, the drive started with a holding call, but back-to-back physical runs, one by Jefferson up the middle on first and 20 and Raheim "Rocket" Sanders to the outside quickly set up the Razorbacks for a 4-yard walk-off touchdown catch from Tyrone Broden. 

"The play call was a backside slant," Broden said. "When I saw the safety come down, I kinda knew it was over with. I did my route and KJ did the rest. Caught the ball, touchdown."

Before the good, there was more of the familiar bad. Already holding a 20-17 lead, Arkansas was gifted pristine field position, starting the drive at the Florida 32 thanks to a wobbly punt, two key penalties led to no points after.

Little missed his first 50+ yarder of the year. Later, in the fourth quarter, on third and goal from four yards out, Jefferson chucked a surefire back-shoulder touchdown well over 6-7 Broden’s head, forcing Arkansas to settle for a field goal to tie at 23 instead of retaking the lead after Florida quarterback found wide receiver Ricky Pearsall for a touchdown. The sequence, a microcosm of the season, threatened to wipe out their bowl chances with three games remaining. 

With the team trailing 26-23, Jefferson who's looked a shell of himself all year, took over for the first time all season and kicked into first gear. Rushing for 41 yards on the drive, Arkansas took a 30-26 lead with 4:26 left to play. 

Florida quarterback Graham Mertz wasn't going down without a fight, orchestrating a three-play drive in 1:24, leaning on Trevor Etienne for a touchdown before Cam Little smacked a 49-yard  game-tying field goal right through the uprights to tie the game with 44 ticks left. 

So much was made of the mid-season shift with Kenny Guiton taking over the playcalling, and he showed no sign of early nerves. The Razorbacks marched right down the field in seven plays with tempo and action in just 2:54, capped off by an 8-yard touchdown catch by running back AJ Green.

The defense, which has had a knack for the end zone, had fireworks in store for the Florida offense. On the first play from scrimmage, linebacker Jaylon Braxton ripped the ball away from Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall and returned it to the house to quickly double the lead. The Razorbacks are tied with Michigan for the most defensive touchdowns by an FBS school with four.

The fumble seemed to light a fire under Pearsall, who is also the Gators' return man on special teams and pulled off back-to-back returns of 16 and 40 yards on Max Fletcher punts to set Florida up in Arkansas’ territory to start both drives. Unlike Arkansas, who was unable to capitalize on good field position, both drives were capped off by touchdown catches by Eugene Wilson III from 19 and 6 yards out. The Razorback defense found it difficult to match the true freshman’s pure speed, as their two-touchdown lead disappeared before the first quarter ended.

The old problems with the offense reared its ugly head again as the opening salvo seemed to be a mirage. Arkansas proceeded to punt on three of their next four drives, mixed in with Jefferson’s eighth interception of the year. Arkansas finished the rest of the half after the opening drive with just 75 yards of total offense, 45 of which came on a deep ball down the right sideline to receiver Andrew Armstrong. Their 150 first-half yards is still good enough for the most for a Hogs first half since 209 yards against LSU. Arkansas took a 17-14 lead with a 37-yard field goal with 4:39 left in the half.

Florida responded to cap off an entertaining first 30 minutes with a field goal of their own to tie the score at 17.

After forcing a punt out of Florida to start the second half, another big connection from Jefferson to Armstrong for 48 yards on a catch and run on a crossing route set up a Little 41-yard field goal for a 20-17 lead. 

Jefferson in the end had his best game of the season, finishing the day 20-for-31 for 255 yards and 17 carries for 92 yards rushing. Sanders complimented Jefferson with his first 100+ yard game of the season finishing with 18 carries and 103 yards. 

Arkansas will look to keep the offensive momentum going at home against Auburn 3 p.m. Nov. 11. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network and FuboTV.

HOGS FEED:

HOGS MISSING ANOTHER KEY OFFENSIVE PLAYER AGAINST FLORIDA, BUT HE'LL BE BACK NEXT WEEK

RAZORBACKS MAY HAVE LOST TOP-RANKED HIGH SCHOOL PLAYER'S COMMITMENT SATURDAY

HOGS MISSING KEY OFFENSIVE PLAYER AVAILABLE FOR GAME WITH FLORIDA TODAY

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