The Jayhawks recovered from a 25-point down in the second half to force overtime, but a botched two-point conversion pass from Jason Bean to Lawrence Arnold ended the four-and-a-half-hour bowl marathon.
“What a game, what a crowd,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. I’m beaten And I never snapped.
“I got lucky in the end, but I’m very excited because I’m the Liberty Bowl champion.”
It looked like Beane had room to run instead of throwing out of the end zone, and Pittman said his team was ready for either.
“I told them to go after him. I wanted to go after him,” Pitman said. We got lucky in the end, we’re Liberty Bowl champions, and we’re as excited as we can be.”
Arkansas State (7-6) celebrated a premature victory in the second overtime after stopping Canas quarterback Jaron Daniels on a two-point conversion try just behind the goal line. But a targeting call to Arkansas’ Quincy McAdoo gave the Jayhawks another play, and they converted.
Game MVP Jefferson passed for 287 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 130 yards and two more scores, missing out on many players who played key roles during the season. Regardless, the Razorbacks won.
“I’m not saying who isn’t here, it’s who was,” Pitman said. “This football team said they wanted to play. I know they did. We did too.”
Arkansas and Kansas met for the first time in 116 years, and the Razorbacks used a classic rushing attack to win. Arkansas gained 394 of their 681 total yards on the ground. Davinion added his 112 yards with the Razorbacks.
Kansas (6-7) played in their first bowl game since 2008, but were unable to break their late-season winning streak of seven of their last eight games. Kansas quarterback Daniels passed for 544 yards and five touchdowns. He set Liberty his bowl records for yards passed, touchdowns his pass, completions (37), and total touchdowns (6).
Arkansas dominated despite playing on a roster thinned by opt-outs and transfer portal departures. The Razorbacks only wore his 51 scholarship players.
After leading 31-13 at halftime, Arkansas pushed the advantage to 38-13 midway through the third quarter on a 2-yard run by Dubinion. A touchdown ended an 80-yard drive.
A 25-point deficit set the Jayhawks on fire.
“That whole group fought,” said Kansas coach Lance Leipold. “I think people got their money’s worth.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.