HawgBeat – Jefferson, Daniels go back-and-forth in Death Valley

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson were the first and second-team Preseason All-SEC passers and they lived up to the hype Saturday evening in Tiger Stadium.

What started as a defensive battle between the Tigers and Razorbacks in the first half ended in a shootout as both signal callers combined to throw for 609 yards and seven touchdowns in LSU’s 34-31 win over Arkansas.

Daniels (320 yards, four touchdowns) was held to just 145 yards through the air in the first half thanks to an impressive defensive effort from the Hogs. The senior opened things up in the second half, however.

“Daniels played a great game,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said. “Once he got on he was on. I thought we frustrated him early, but we couldn’t stop him from the end of the first half forward. He was on. We tried several different coverages.”

Viewed as the top quarterback in the SEC entering the season, Daniels has only further pushed the narrative through four games. It’s not easy preparing for a talent like that, but Arkansas linebacker Jaheim Thomas and defensive back Hudson Clark felt they did their best.

“I’d say he’s a very great player,” Thomas said. “We had a very good game plan. The result didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but at the end of the day we still played hard and we still held him down as much as we could.”

Clark, who had seven total tackles in the game, credited Daniels’ ability to run the ball.

“Yeah, I mean he’s a great runner,” Clark said. “Great passer. He’s been in talks for the Heisman for a while. Coming out we just wanted to make him feel a little bit of pressure. I think we did that in the first half. I mean, yeah, he’s an excellent player. At the end of the day you have to look back and give him credit.”

Jefferson (289 yards, three touchdowns) had his best performance of the season despite throwing two interceptions — one of which came in the final seconds of the game on a hail-mary in a last-ditch effort to win.

“I thought he threw the ball better,” Pittman said. “He obviously made some plays with his feet. Dan, they called some really good read plays with him, reading the 3 technique, reading the nose guard and he made some good runs off of that. He pushed the pile forward several times on third down, or a few times on third down to get first downs. He was competitive.”

It’s not often two high-caliber quarterbacks face off in a pivotal matchup like this one, but Daniels and Jefferson lived up to the billing. As the lights got brighter in Death Valley, so did the level of play between the opposing gunslingers.

“I’m not talking for Coach (Brian) Kelly but I thought both of them played better as the game went on,” Pittman said. “Both of them made plays. Daniels made plays with his feet as well, especially in crucial situations. But I thought as the game went on both quarterbacks got in rhythm, and both of them were really hard to stop.”

Despite his superb performance, Jefferson said he understands that he needs to improve as a leader if the Razorbacks are going to make a dent in the SEC West standings.

“Of course it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, but I feel like we came in prepared,” Jefferson said. “We had great preparation throughout the week, and we knew everything they were going to do. We’ve just got to finish drives. That’s the main thing going into it. We’ve got to finish drives, and it starts with me up front.”

Clark raved on Jefferson following the game, confirming what most already know about the veteran Razorback: Arkansas goes as he does. With his three passing touchdowns, he tied Matt Jones’ program record of 77 total touchdowns and tied Clint Stoerner’s 57 passing touchdowns for third-best in program history.

“Every time 1 goes out there, you know he’s going to do his thing,” Clark said. “Sometimes it looks like he’s going to get sacked and he just bounces right off the defense. So, I mean, you can never count him out running or passing the ball.”

Things don’t get any easier, as Arkansas will travel to Arlington, Texas, next Saturday to take on the Texas A&M Aggies. The game is set to start at 11:00 a.m. CT and it will air on ESPN or SEC Network.