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While Saturday wasn't actually the first start of Arkansas junior quarterback KJ Jackson's career, it was the first time he'd taken the field as the QB1. He led the Razorbacks to a 31-14 win over North Alabama, but it was a mixed bag performance. Postgame, Jackson owned his disappointing showing. Both he and head coach Ryan Silverfield made it perfectly clear they weren't happy with how things went and have to be better moving forward. Jackson finished 24 of 35 through the air (68.6%) for 267 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, to go with an additional 27 rushing yards on 10 carries.  On the first play from scrimmage, Jackson found fellow junior wideout CJ Brown on drag for an easy 16-yard gain. From that point on, though, nothing looked to be easy for the Arkansas quarterback in the first half.  The Razorbacks offense only mustered up 14 points and Jackson's own subpar decision-making kept points off the board at the end of the half. With the Hogs deep in Lions territory, Jackson forced a throw into the endzone and it was picked off by North Alabama safety Trevion Butler.  "Prior of half, you certainly can't make that decision to throw the ball in the end zone when you already have points," Silverfield said. "There's plenty of check-downs that are available, and you saw what happened when we threw the ball to the running back out of the backfield. Good things happen." "I forced that one, and I can't do that," Jackson added postgame. "I can't do that, especially when we're in field goal range and we have points. I know better than that. Coach [Tim Cramsey] and Coach Silverfield have been in that position plenty of times, and I got to check the ball down." Jackson was just 12 of 22 for 131 yards with two touchdowns and a pick at halftime. In the second half, the Arkansas offense was still struggling to establish the run and couldn't get out of its own way with mistakes. 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I was happy to see the offense make some plays. Sutton had an amazing play on a little check down. He made a linebacker miss, and it turned into a big play. So, of course we've got a lot to fix. But I mean, at the end of the day, it was a win." The game was a valuable learning experience for Jackson. Both he and Silverfield explained that North Alabama showed some different looks than expected. Arkansas couldn't get much going on the ground or in the vertical passing game, which didn't help either. Add in penalties Jackson explained he just needs to trust his reads and lean on his check-downs like he did more in the second half. "I've got to be better at taking the check downs," Jackson said. "[Jasper Parker], the tight ends, they were open underneath a large part of the day. So, just going through my reads and getting to the end, checking the ball down. ... I mean, there were good plays and there were bad plays. We'll get in there tomorrow, we'll watch it, we'll fix it and we'll get ready for Utah." It's a quick turnaround and short runway to iron out some of those issues seen Saturday as the Hogs get ready for a ranked Utah squad. Silverfield made it clear that he isn't close to giving up on Jackson and believes he'll bounce back based on the incredible work ethic he's seen firsthand the last eight months.  "I've got so much faith in him because of the type of young man he is," Silverfield explained. "Right now, he's probably watching the film before he comes in here. He'll be texting me at night. He'll be calling me and saying, 'I've got this. What do you think about this?' And that's what I love about the young man. "No doubt in my mind that he'll be ready to come back and improve every single day. And I hope a young man like that, who really, that's his true second start, but I'm calling this a first time starter, like he's going to improve every single game. I can't wait to watch him grow."  Arkansas has a marquee, primetime non-conference matchup with the No. 21 Utah Utes on Saturday night. Kickoff from Rice-Eccles Stadium is set for 9:15 p.m. (CDT), and ESPN will have television coverage of the game.