by Otis Kirk

Arkansas stepped outside the SEC on Saturday to snap a three-game losing skid and defeat BYU 52-35 in Provo, Utah.

The Hogs used a potent offensive attack led by quarterback KJ Jefferson, running back Rocket Sanders, wide receiver Matt Landers and tight end Trey Knox. Jefferson, who didn't play against Mississippi State last week due to a head injury bounced back in great form. He completed 29 of 40 passes for 367 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed 10 times for 32 yards. A reporter asked Sam Pittman afterward if he felt Jefferson rebounded from a shaky start?

"I didn't see it," Pittman said. "I thought he played fantastic. You might be talking about his runs weren't going very good early. But I think BYU said 'we're not going to let him run the football.' They were holding back their linebackers on the weak side. But our running backs had a good day running the football. To answer your question, I thought he was really good. When you don't play for a week. We were fortunate he practiced all week. He practiced on Monday and all those things. I was real proud of him."

Jefferson left the game against BYU in the final seconds following a six-yard run. He was tackled at the BYU 2-yard line and landed on his head. But Pittman had a positive update after the game.

"He's fine by the way," Pittman said. "He had a stinger. He's fine. He could've went back in the game at that point, but there was really no need to go back in the game. BYU had a nice goal line stand there at the end. Really proud of KJ. The third-down play before half, I have no idea how he got out of that and how he made that play. That was another, probably the second biggest play of the game. Of course, us going 12-of-15 on third down was ... 75 percent on third down is incredible. I think that's what it is, or is that 80, 12-of-15? That's really good."

The third-down play Pittman referred to was when it appeared on at least three occasions Jefferson was sacked on a third-and-11 play. However, Jefferson managed to break all the tackles and then find tight end Trey Knox for a 36-yard completion to the BYU 22. Three plays later running back Rashod Dubinion scored on a 15-yard run to set the halftime score at 31-21. Jefferson talked about that play following the game.

"I just was watching it," Jefferson said. "I didn't know an article came out that fast. I was just watching it just then and I was like, 'I didn't know I broke that many tackles.' But I mean, we knew it was third down. I knew it was third down, so I knew I had to make a play. And so I mean, at that point, we were just try to keep the momentum on our side, keep scoring while the offense was hot. I mean, every time we went out there after the field goal, we scored. So just being able to try to keep the momentum on our side, and then third down, I knew I had to make a play and I made a play."

Sanders also had a big game rushing 15 times for 175 yards and two touchdowns. He scored Arkansas' first and last touchdowns in the game. In the first quarter, Sanders scored on a 15-yard run. Then in the fourth quarter, he raced 64 yards for a touchdown.

"Well, the counter down the sideline was nice, wasn't it?," Pittman said. "I don't think anybody touched him late in the game to go up 17. Certainly don't want to turn it over once, but I thought Rocket really rebounded after that and had a great game."

Sanders did lose a fumble on Arkansas' first possession of the game. Pittman kept him on the sideline for an extended period as well following the turnover.

"I didn't feel like he was hitting the holes the way he should have, and he put the ball on the ground," Pittman said. "We've got to let guys think about it for a minute. We've got other backs that can go in there, but he's a great kid and he rebounded."

How motivating for him was it to sit out so much of the game?

"I don't know," Pittman said. "I think it's pretty motivating for anybody who cares, and I know he does. Anytime you're thinking you should be in the game and you're not, I think it's motivating."

Jefferson was impressed with how Sanders responded following the fumble.

"I mean, it shows character, just being able to respond to adversity like he did," Jefferson said. "Just going out and first drive he fumbled, then... I mean, if you don't have great character, a great mindset, then that can totally screw you for the rest of the game, and one bad play might lead to another bad play. But Rocket, I mean, the character that he has and the mentality he has I mean, just to be able to respond to adversity how he did, it's truly amazing for him to be as young as he is as well."

Landers entered the game with no touchdown receptions on the season. He also didn't catch a pass against the Bulldogs last week. On Saturday, Landers caught eight passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns, His scores were from the 4-, 5- and 39-yard line. Knox also had a good game catching four passes for 66 yards including a 6-yard touchdown.

The Razorbacks trailed 13-7 after the first quarter, but then put up 24 points in the second quarter. The Hogs then outscored BYU 21-14 in the second half. Hudson Clark had a big game finishing with 11 tackles, one interception and a fumble recovery.

In the second quarter BYU led 21-17 when they opted to go for a first down on a fourth-and-one play at their own 34. There was a fumble on the snap and Arkansas took over at that spot. Following that play, Arkansas covered the 34 yards with the final four being a pass from Jefferson to Landers giving the Hogs their first lead at 24-21. Pittman was asked if that was a game changer?

"I think so," Pittman said. "I think that was a big turning point in the game, because let's face the facts, we hadn't been able to stop them. We get it, we go right down and score and I believe we come back and score again right before half. I believe we scored twice around four minutes to go in the half. I think we ended up having that fumbled snap. We went and scored, and then I think we scored with maybe 30, 40, 50 seconds left in the half. To come it at half with a 10-point lead was huge because they had the ball in the first possession of the second half."

The Razorbacks had 644 yards of total offense including 367 in the air and 277 on the ground. BYU finished with 471 yards of total offense passing for 356 and then 115 rushing. The Arkansas defense held BYU to only 7 of 13 conversions on third down and 1 of 3 on fourth down.

Arkansas (4-3, 1-3) now has a bye week before heading to Auburn in two weeks. Auburn (3-4, 1-3) fell to Ole Miss 48-34 on Saturday.