Unreal comeback falls short as Arkansas outmuscles Kansas in 3OT, 55-53

The Jayhawks and Razorbacks set or tied 24 Liberty Bowl records in a wild game.

The Kansas Jayhawks wrapped an entire season of play into a single game, as a mistake-filled first half was followed up by a furious second half comeback that sent the game into triple overtime before an errant pass from Jason Bean on a trick play sailed high to end the game.

The Jayhawks gave up 24 points in the first quarter as the entire team made multiple mistakes. Two interceptions by Jalon Daniels and a special teams fumble led to points for Arkansas, and going into halftime, the Jayhawks were down 38-13 in a game that many were hoping would just remain somewhat competitive in the second half.

But as the Jayhawks do, they found their legs in the second half, as the offense stopped making mistakes and started scoring points and the defense found ways to stop Arkansas and get the ball back for Jalon Daniels.

Arkansas scored for the last time in regulation with 8:43 left in the third quarter, going up 38-13 and leading many to believe that the night was over for the Jayhawks. The Jayhawks went three and out, and at that point the night had been characterized by offensive mistakes and unfortunate miscues.

But at that point, the defense stiffened. A defensive line that had allowed Arkansas to open up holes all night long suddenly collapsed the middle of the field. And the Razorbacks started to lose their composure. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed a 3rd and 8 back to a 3rd and 23. And once the offense got the ball back, Daniels flipped some magic switch and went from good but not great to otherwordly.

The ensuing drive saw passes of 45 yards and 20 yards as Daniels threw his receivers wide open. Another quick three-and-out let Daniels pick up right where he left off, with a 28 yard pass to Locklin as Kansas got an Owen Piepergerdes field goal to get back to two scores. 

But even with the Daniels heroics, the offense stalling in the fourth quarter led many to believe that the team just wouldn't have enough. The margin was still at 15 when Kansas called their final timeout with just 3 minutes to play and Arkansas driving on the Jayhawk 30-yard line.

But Marvin Grant wasn't done. The Jayhawk was seen firing up the defense earlier in the quarter, and he laid a hit on Arkansas running back Matt Landers that ended with a fumble that was scooped up by Cobee Bryant. He returned it all the way to the Arkansas 48, and the Jayhawks were in business. But even then, it wasn't easy.

When Jalon Daniels got sacked on 1st and 10 from the Arkansas 21. Mike Novitsky got called for a holding penalty to make it 2nd and 29. But Daniels threw a strike to Kevin Terry for 30 yards, and followed it up with a touchdown pass to Doug Emilien. Then the insanity ramped up with an onside kick dribbling through the Arkansas line and picked up by Kansas. Daniels scored on a pass to Luke Grimm just 24 seconds of game time later. And the defense held to get the game to overtime.

In overtime, Daniels continued to make play after play, with a touchdown pass to Jared Casey in the first overtime, a rushing score on a QB keeper in the second overtime followed by a 2-point conversion to Jared Casey (who else?), even after he took a shot to the head on the first attempt that resulted in an Arkansas targeting penalty to give Kansas another chance.

But ultimately, the call that ended the game was one to take the ball out of Jalon Daniels' hands. In the third overtime, where teams start trading 2-point conversions, Kansas called a reverse pass for Jason Bean, and instead of running the ball into the end zone, he tried to loft a pass over the defense and missed badly.

But that doesn't take away from the phenomenal performances we saw across the board for the Jayhawks, both during this season and in this individual game. Jalon Daniels ended the night setting 7 different Liberty Bowl records, including the most passing yards with 544 and passing touchdowns with 5. And the defense stepped up with multiple big plays from multiple big players.

The loss was painful for the Jayhawks, as Daniels said in the postgame press conference, But after the pain goes away, all of these players should be proud of their performance tonight.

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