Many folks in Razorback country believe that Arkansas football is cursed in its annual clash against Texas A&M.
After blowing an early lead and losing a late heart-breaker to the Aggies on Saturday – a tale as old as time – the Hogs ended up losing 12 of the last 13 Southwest Classics.
When Arkansas took the field in the closing stretch trailing by four, many fans could already foresee the outcome that followed. With a chance to take the lead with a touchdown, Taylen Green got strip-sacked by Texas A&M defensive end Nic Scourton. The Aggies recovered, and kneeled out the clock shortly afterward to secure a 21-17 lead.
And yet, there was a time when Razorback fans surely thought their team would break this apparent curse. Two years ago, the Hogs were coming off a victory the previous season and again in the driver’s seat in AT&T Stadium. With a 14-7 lead late in the second quarter, they were knocking on the door in the red zone with the chance to take a two-score lead.
Instead, KJ Jefferson attempted to leap over the offensive line from the 4-yard line on a quarterback run. His Superman effort ended in disaster, as he lost the football on a scoop-and-score touchdown that swung all the momentum toward Texas A&M.
The Aggies went on to win that game 23-21, with Cam Little’s last-second field goal infamously doinking off the top of the upright. Jefferson did plenty of good for the Arkansas football program in 2021-22, but his carelessness with the ball that day ended up being the deciding factor in a game that turned the tide of Arkansas’ season.
Ironically, it was another Razorback QB’s lack of ball security that doomed the Hogs’ chances of victory again on Saturday.
KJ’s Carelessness Strikes Again in UCF’s Loss to Colorado
After the disaster that was the 2023 season for Arkansas, the thinking was that a mutual parting of ways between KJ Jefferson and the Razorbacks would be best for both parties. Jefferson ended up transferring to UCF to work under the tutelage of Gus Malzahn, who has worked wonders with other dual-threat quarterbacks in the past.
Most notable in that group is the legendary Cam Newton, who won the Heisman Trophy and a national title at Auburn while Malzahn was serving as offensive coordinator. He eventually went on to win an NFL MVP with the Carolina Panthers, and his accompanying Superman celebration became notorious around the league.
Newton is the quarterback Jefferson has been compared to the most in his college career, both by Arkansas fans and Malzahn himself. He’s embraced those comparisons, as well, hitting Cam’s signature celebration multiple times at both Arkansas and UCF. Before his A&M debacle, Jefferson had pulled off successful iterations of Newton’s signature red-zone divebomb.
The hopes were that Malzahn could bring the best out of Jefferson in his final season in college, while Boise State transfer Taylen Green could improve the Hogs’ offense. Yes, both programs got off to strong starts to the season, but Saturday showed that the offseason quarterback changes weren’t all sunshine and rainbows.
Late in a crushing loss to Colorado, Jefferson again flashed an inexplicable carelessness with the football when he was stripped in the fourth quarter, leading to a scoop and score for the Buffaloes.
The game was already in hand for Colorado at that point, but it was the nail in the coffin on a blowout loss at home for UCF. The Knights actually outgained the Buffs 461-418, but four team turnovers doomed them – and Jefferson was responsible for three of them, with a fumble and two interceptions. Sound familiar? That’s the same number of turnovers Green had in Arlington.
Earlier in the game, Jefferson threw an interception to two-way stud Travis Hunter, who celebrated by hitting the Heisman pose. A couple years removed from when Jefferson himself was a candidate for the illustrious trophy, he’s now boosting the campaigns of standout defensive backs instead.
This isn’t to say that Jefferson, on the whole, has failed to impress this season. He’s produced a number of highlight plays and his numbers are still solid, with more than 1,000 total yards and nine total touchdowns through four games, but some of the same issues that hurt him at Arkansas are showing again at his new destination.
Taylen Green’s Indecisiveness Hurts Hogs, Mirrors Jefferson
It’s not just the aforementioned lack of ball security that’s a bugaboo here, but also a general lack of focus and leadership from the senior captain. In 2023, “you couldn’t tell him nothing,” said DJ Williams, a former Razorback tight end and current Pig Trail Nation contributor. The leadership qualities of Green, on the other hand, have been consistently praised in the offseason by players and coaches alike.
He’s also picked up brownie points for being a good teammate and frequently praising his linemen and fellow playmakers. The hope for this season was that the combination of Green’s athletic tools and improved chemistry amongst the offense would allow the Hogs to “kumbaya” their way to a better season.
No question, the Razorback offense has improved from last season. Even after a poor performance against Texas A&M, they still rank 13th nationally in total offense. But while KJ has struggled to shake his Achilles Heel in the last couple years, it appears Green might have the opposite problem – indecisiveness.
On numerous occasions on Saturday, the junior quarterback took too much time making his decisions – too much deliberation, too much processing. And just like not thinking through decisions can lead to turnovers, being too slow to the punch can create the same outcome. That could be seen with Green’s three turnovers against the Aggies.
On the first instance, he held onto the ball too long on a zone read, allowing A&M to swoop in and force a fumble. That set the Aggies up in the red zone, and allowed them to punch in a game-tying touchdown:
Toward the end of the half, Green took too long to decide on a rollout, eventually throwing an interception to Dezz Ricks that prevented the Hogs from entering the locker room with a lead.
On the game-ending fumble, Green once again spent too long in the backfield and rolled right into pressure.
Those three mistakes played a pivotal role in the loss. Whether it’s too much thinking or too little caution, both issues can be kisses of death to skill positions in football. This isn’t to pin all the blame on Green, as the rest of the Arkansas football team and coaching staff bear plenty of responsibility for the loss as well.
The offensive line consistently struggled to hold back the Aggies’ front, the squad was charged with 10 penalties and there were some head-scratching coaching decisions from head coach Sam Pittman. In the third quarter, Pittman had to take a timeout to prevent a delay of game penalty because a player was too late running out for a long field goal try. After thinking it over, Arkansas still opted to try a fake. The Aggies, of course, stuffed them and took over possession.
But Taylen Green’s mistakes are still frustrating to watch, especially given his talent and elite tools. He’s clearly capable of making highlight plays and leading the offense, as evidenced by his 75-yard dime to Isaac TeSlaa on the opening drive; he just needs to speed up his decision-making process to cut down on his mistakes.
Given the fact he’s a Mountain West Conference transfer adapting to life in the SEC, these growing pains are to be expected. Continued improvement in that aspect is something to watch for as the season continues.
The fact Green is working in a Bobby Petrino-ran offense is also certainly making things harder, as it’s a complicated scheme that former Arkansas quarterbacks like Casey Dick have said is difficult to pick up in Year 1. Even legends like Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson needed a year on the sidelines to learn the ropes. Green, however, has been thrust straight into the limelight.
The question in the coming weeks will be if Petrino can, or is willing to, pare down his scheme enough to allow Green to play faster with less time spent pondering – pretty much how Jefferson played under former Hogs OC Kendal Briles before that ill-fated Superman jump attempt.
KJ Jefferson On Wrong End of Latest Colorado Trolling
UCF football was on the wrong end of a beatdown at the hands of Big 12 foe Colorado. Ever since Deion Sanders took over as head coach in Boulder, the Buffaloes have been a mainstay in the trending section every Saturday – win or lose. Given the emphatic conference win, the Buffs took the opportunity to celebrate accordingly.
Before the game, Jefferson posted a Skip Bayless quote from the offseason on his locker as bulletin board material in which the Fox Sports talking head referred to Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders as not only the best QB in the Big 12, but the best in the entire country. Jefferson took the quote as motivation to perform, but the game obviously didn’t turn out as planned.
Naturally, Shedeur’s brother, Shilo, a defensive back on the Buffaloes, took the opportunity to poke fun at Jefferson.
There were also a few niche Arkansas connections in the UCF-Colorado matchup, starting with the number of Hogs who have transferred to play for Coach Prime at CU. Former Razorbacks like Taurean Carter and RJ Johnson have struggled to make much of an impact for the Buffs, but Isaiah Augustave is actually the team’s leading rusher so far.
The matchup of Sanders and Malzahn is also an interesting case study in “what could have been” for Arkansas fans, as both coaches were previous candidates of varying degrees of seriousness for the Arkansas job in 2019. Back then, it’d be hard to believe that by now both coaches would be buttering their bread in the Big 12.
There’s also the SEC Network gaffe from two years ago where the broadcast inexplicably mistook Shedeur Sanders for Jefferson in a graphic. I mean, come on…they don’t even look like each other at all. Now one of the most recognizable faces in college football, there’s no mistaking who Sanders is after he outplayed his “doppelganger” on the national stage.
As for Green and the Hogs’ offense, the road won’t get any easier with a Tennessee defense on deck that’s had a historically good start to the season. Against the Vols, Arkansas will have to shake the seemingly-contagious turnover bug after it wreaked havoc on Auburn in its loss to the Hogs last week before passing on to Arkansas against Texas A&M.
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Trey Biddy gives his take on Arkansas football:
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