ARLINGTON, Texas -- Arkansas gave the fans wearing red something to celebrate early, but in the end it was too many turnovers and penalties with Texas A&M leaving AT&T Stadium with a 21-17 win in front of 60,928.
For Arkansas, it was a familiar ending how this game has gone since Bobby Petrino left as the head coach. The Hogs defeated Texas A&M 20-10 in 2020 for the lone victory since 2011. The Hogs coughed up two fumbles and an interception in the loss. They were also penalized 10 times for 75 yards. Sam Pittman spoke about the penalties afterward.
"Congratulations to A&M," Pittman said. "I thought their defense was extremely physical. We knew it going in, we thought that was the best part of their football team, and they certainly showed it tonight. I thought our kids played extremely hard. Had too many penalties in the second half that came back and haunted us. Took the lead there in the fourth and they ended up going down the field and scoring on us. We helped them with penalties, which you can't do.
"Disappointing to lose tonight because I certainly felt like we had our chances to win and felt like that the entire game. But we never could get anything consistently going offensively. It was off something big or a fake punt or whatever, but it was not a lot of consistency there. Couldn't protect again, kind of the same old story this week. Texas A&M did a good job and congratulations to them."
The Razorbacks wasted no time getting the excitement started. On the third play from scrimmage quarterback Taylen Green hit wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa for a 75-yard touchdown. The Razorbacks were up 7-0 before many fans had settled into their seats with 13:49 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Aggies fought back on their second series. On the third play of the second series for the Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed found wide receiver Noah Thomas who shed an Arkansas cornerback trying to tackle him and raced in for a 58-yard touchdown with10:28 left in the opening quarter.
The Razorbacks used a fake punt by Devin Bale when they had a fourth-and-16 play at their own 45. Bale ran to his right and instead of punting raced 25 yards to the A&M 30. It took three plays from there for running back Ja'Quinden Jackson to go around left end for an 8-yard touchdown and 14-7 lead with 4:50 remaining in the opening quarter.
Disaster struck for the Razorbacks on its next possession. The defense forced a punt and the Hogs took over at their own 9. Green handed off to Jackson just as an Aggie defender reached the play. The fumble occurred and Texas A&M's Scooby Williams recovered at the Arkansas 10. On second and goal, Reed ran in from the 5-yard line to tie the game at 14 with 8:58 remaining before intermission.
Arkansas tried to rally for the lead at halftime. On a first-and-10 play at its own 48, Green tossed an interception that was taken by Dezz Ricks. Pittman was asked what he told his team at halftime?
"Yeah, try to get the ball outside either with him (Green), and of course Bobby (Petrino) ran a little play with him as well," Pittman said. "They slanted to that side, we got beat on a couple of down blocks out there. We lost 5 yards on that particular play, but we were just trying to move the pocket a little bit and hopefully he can get on the edge and have a run-pass option. We also thought that was the way to go in the run game, so we tossed the ball out there a little bit with a little bit of truck, down-down and pull with the toss that we did with Braylen (Russell). It just seemed like we had guys coming in, coming out. Seems like I talked to Dave (Polanski) more than what I have normally on guys cramping or getting hurt. It was a very physical game, but that's what we tried to do. We were going to try to move the pocket a little bit more. And I thought it helped us, then you get into 2-minute and you know, it's hard to move the pocket and throw the ball a long way down the field."
After a scoreless third quarter, the Razorbacks managed to take a 17-14 lead on a 45-yard field goal by Kyle Ramsey with 13:24 remaining in the game. The drive was a 10-play, 58-yard one that took 4:12 off the clock.
The Aggies responded on their next possession. They went 75 yards on eight plays with Reed finding tight end Tre Watson for a 5-yard touchdown. That set what proved to be the final margin of victory with nine minutes left in the game.
The Razorbacks had one last drive to try and win it. They took over at their own 10 with 2:44 remaining in the game. They drove to their own 34. On a first-and-10 play, Green was hit by Nic Scourton rolling out and nickel Jaydon Hill recovered at the Hogs 42.
Arkansas only allowed two sacks on the day, but the Aggies managed constant pressure on Green finishing with eight quarterback hurries.
"I don't think, in the protection game, it's got to be one-on-one, two-on-two, then five-on-five and six-on-six, you know," Pittman said. "You kinda progress that way in teaching your protections. Early in the game, we were getting -- well, a bunch of the game -- we were getting beat one-on-one. And then what happens, you start getting that way -- they really didn't do anything different. They did bring a boundary smoke four to a side, which they didn't cross face in an empty protection, but outside of that, not a lot of things that were different. So it wasn't like we were turning them loose, it was just we were having a difficult time blocking them. Then what happens, especially when you start the game like that, your quarterback gets happy feet and sometimes validated and sometimes probably not, tries to get the ball out faster.
"They were really good and I thought tonight they were probably as good as I thought they were coming in. I was hoping they might not be that way and that we'd play a little bit better."
The Razorbacks finished with 385 yards of total offense compared to 297 for the Aggies. Green completed 23 of 41 passing for 279 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Jackson carried 10 times for 37 yards and one touchdown. Andrew Armstrong caught six passes for 72 yards while Isaiah Sategna grabbed six for 27. TeSlaa had five receptions for 120 yards and the touchdown. Edge Landon Jackson had his best game of the season with eight tackles, six solo, three for loss and two sacks.
Reed was 11 of 22 passing for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Le'Veon Moss ran 13 times for 117 yards. Thomas grabbed six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Arkansas (3-2, 1-1) will now return home to host No. 5 Tennessee (4-0) on Saturday night in Razorback Stadium. It will only be Arkansas' second game in Fayetteville. The Vols had a bye week.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
