A stagnant Arkansas offense woke up a little too late Saturday against another top SEC defense.
The Razorbacks mounted a late comeback from an 18-point deficit, but lost 24-21 at 11th-ranked Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Arkansas (2-5, 0-4 SEC) lost its fifth consecutive game and finished winless during a month-long stretch of games away from home. Three of the losses were by one score.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play in Fayetteville next week against Mississippi State — their first home game since the losing streak began with a 38-31 loss to BYU on Sept. 16.
The team’s five losses have been by an average 6.4 points — a fine line between being winless in conference play and potentially have a much-better record seven games into the season.
"We've backed ourselves so far into the wall, into a corner," Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said on Razorback Sports Network after the game. "We want to get bowl eligible. We're going to take it one at a time."
Alabama (6-1, 4-0) improved to 17-0 against Arkansas under coach Nick Saban and tightened its grip atop the SEC West midway through conference play.
The Razorbacks have not won a game against the Crimson Tide in their annual series since 2006. The teams are not scheduled to play each other next year when the SEC will expand to 16 teams and eliminate divisions for the first time since Arkansas joined in 1992.
Quarterback KJ Jefferson led a pair of long touchdown drives late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to pull the Razorbacks within 24-21. Jefferson threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and hit running back Rashod Dubinon for a 14-yard score on third down with 10:59 to play.
Arkansas got the ball back with 9:59 remaining and advanced to its own 46, but a sack by SEC leader Dallas Turner forced a punt with less than six minutes remaining. Arkansas never got the ball again.
"I thought the second half we shut them down pretty good," Pittman said. "They did a nice job, I'll give them credit, on that last drive. We couldn't get the ball back from them. They did a nice job securing the game."
After taking possession with 5:19 remaining, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe made a pair of key plays to work the clock and force Arkansas to burn its timeouts. His 4-yard run converted third-and-3, and he made a touch pass under pressure for 14 yards to Amari Niblack to convert second-and-13.
“Hopefully we can learn how to beat the other team, not just to win the game but beat the other team,” Saban said. “We had the resilience to take the clock at the end of the game and not give them the ball back.”
Milroe threw first-half touchdown passes of 79 yards to Kobe Prentice and 29 yards to Niblack, and ran for a 1-yard touchdown to help Alabama build a 21-6 lead at halftime.
Milroe completed 10 of 21 passes for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns.
"Jalen did a great job in the first half," Saban told SEC Network after the game. "He missed three or four throws in the second half — a little high or whatever. I don't know if it was pressure in the pocket or not getting his feet set, but he'll learn from it and get better as well."
Arkansas led 6-0 on a pair of long first-quarter field goals by Cam Little, who improved to 11 of 12 this year.
After the teams exchanged three-and-out punts to open the game, Little kicked a 55-yard field goal with 9:15 remaining in the first quarter to give the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead. It was the fourth field goal from 50 yards or longer for Little this season, which is the most by an Arkansas kicker since at least 1984.
Little added a 49-yard field goal with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter. Arkansas faced third-and-9 at the Alabama 37, but called a draw play for running back AJ Green to move the ball closer for Little.
"We've got, in my opinion, the best kicker in the country and [show] me a better punter than we have," Pittman said, referencing punter Max Fletcher whose 7 punts averaged 53.9 yards, with a long of 70. "To average 50-something yards per punt and you throw out Cam Little who is going to make 55 this week and 56 last week — they're outstanding. We're awful proud of them and happy we have them on our football team."
The Crimson Tide were in control for a while after Little's second field goal. After recovering a fumble behind the line of scrimmage on second down, Milroe found Prentice wide open deep downfield on third-and-14 for Alabama’s first score.
Will Reichard’s ensuing extra point gave the Crimson Tide the lead and gave himself the SEC’s career scoring record. Reichard entered the game with 480 points, tied with former Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson for the most in league history.
Richard added a 30-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. He has made his last 26 field goal attempts dating to last season, including all 13 tries this year.
Milroe’s 1-yard touchdown run with 8:44 remaining before halftime extended Alabama’s lead to 14-6. That capped a 10-play, 83-yard drive that included a pair of deep passes from Milroe to Jermaine Burton for 44 yards and Ja’Corey Brooks for 25.
The Crimson Tide scored on their third consecutive possession with 4:45 left before halftime. Two plays after a 14-yard pass from Milroe to Prentice converted third-and-5, Milroe threw deep to Niblack for a 29-yard score.
Reichard’s field goal put Alabama ahead 24-6 with 7:47 remaining in the third quarter and proved to be crucial in the end.
"We played pretty good until it was [24-6]," said Saban, who won his 200th game in 17 seasons at Alabama. "Then we got two third-down penalties. They got back in the game and scored. We lost our momentum and went three-and-out three or four times on offense.
"We've got to learn how to play for 60 minutes and finish the game, which we really didn't do like we need to do today. I think we'll learn from it and hopefully be better ready for the next challenge."
Jefferson’s touchdown pass to Sategna came one play after Alabama’s Caleb Downs was flagged for interference on a third-down throw from Jefferson to tight end Ty Washington. A face mask penalty against Jaylen Key earlier in the possession nullified a third-down stop for the Crimson Tide.
The 10-play, 77-yard drive included the first Arkansas first down in nearly 33 minutes of game time. The Razorbacks were held to nine yards in the second quarter and had 97 yards in the first half.
Sategna, the national leader in receiving yards as a senior at Fayetteville High School as a senior two years ago, recorded his first collegiate touchdown reception. He returned an 88-yard punt for a score against BYU last month, and entered the Alabama game with 4 catches for 21 yards.
Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson sacked Milroe on the ensuing drive to help force a punt. Jackson had a career-high 3.5 sacks. Milroe was sacked five times.
"We felt like we could get after him and felt like we could get him on the ground, so we were going to go after him," Pittman said. "With that, sometimes you're going to be in man-to-man, one-on-one, and for the most part we covered really well. It's just we had a couple of busts in the secondary and they ended up having wide-open guys."
Jefferson completed 14 of 24 passes for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rushed for 64 yards on 10 carries when adjusted for 4 sacks.
He made perhaps the game's best play when he broke out of what appeared to be a sure second-down sack by Terrion Arnold, then completed a 25-yard pass to tight end Var'keyes Gumms to the Alabama 13. Dubinion scored a few plays later.
"That was one of the most impressive plays I've ever seen a player make," Saban said of the 247-pound quarterback.
The Razorbacks rushed for 100 yards on 36 attempts after combining for 78 yards in their previous losses to Texas A&M and Ole Miss.
Green led Arkansas with 44 yards on six carries. The Razorbacks played the game without 2022 All-SEC back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, who did not travel two weeks after returning from a knee injury that forced him to miss three games.
Armstrong had four catches for 48 yards to lead Arkansas' receiving corps. He also caught a two-point conversion following Dubinion's touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.
Jase McClellan (16 carries for 83 yards) and Roydell Williams (7 for 68) led Alabama's rushing attack that produced 177 yards. Prentice had 93 yards on a pair of catches.
Alabama outgained Arkansas 415-250. Neither team committed a turnover.
Arkansas’ five-game losing streak is the team’s longest since the Razorbacks lost 10 in a row concluding with the 2020 season opener, Pittman's first game as coach.
Pittman's four-year record at Arkansas dropped to 21-22. His winning percentage is below .500 for the first time since November 2021.