Nose to nose, toe to toe, Arkansas went the distance with heavyweight champion Alabama, but was decisioned by Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young’s five touchdown passes.
The redshirt freshman threw for an Alabama single-game record 561 yards in Saturday's 42-35 win.
It took a 40-yard bomb with just 5:39 to play, then a two-point conversion — a run by Young — to give the Crimson Tide a small comfort zone of a 14-point lead. That comfort zone weakened when the Razorbacks drove 75 yards in 12 plays, ending with K.J. Anderson hitting Raheim Sanders on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 1:02 to play.
Jefferson, a redshirt sophomore, may not be in the Heisman Trophy race like Jones, but the Arkansas quarterback completed 22 of 30 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns, and he carried 13 times.
Arkansas finished with 468 total yards, and Bama had 671.
It has now been 15 years since the Razorbacks have last beaten the Crimson Tide. Nick Saban has been the Alabama head coach for 14 years.
The Razorbacks' performance on Saturday was more proof of how far they have come under second-year head coach Sam Pittman.