Tag: Arkansas Texas A&M

Even at home, Arkansas has less than 35% chance to beat Texas A&M

Arkansas doesn’t need to worry about the NCAA Tournament. The Hogs need to worry about the cellar of the SEC.

Eric Musselman has had skids like this before. Arkansas has had plenty of losing streaks similar to the one its dealing with now even before Musselman became coach.

But a loss Tuesday against Texas A&M, which would be the team’s fourth straight, would all but serve as the nadir of the season. Arkansas would be all but officially eliminated from NCAA Tournament possibilities if it were to lose to the Aggies.

And, according to ESPN, the Hogs have just a 34% chance of coming up with the win.

Arkansas started SEC play last year with a record of 1-5 and ended up in the Sweet 16. But that team had lost just one nonconference game and it was to the then-No. 10 team in the country. These Razorbacks are just two games above .500, period.

The Aggies are rising, as well. A preseason Top-25 team, Texas A&M fell out of the rankings in the fall with losses to Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Houston and Virginia. LSU and Auburn then beat A&M to start SEC play. But a win over Kentucky last time out has the Aggies playing again like they were expected.

Arkansas, meanwhile? It’s must-win time.

Behind the Numbers: Did Arkansas get dominated by Texas A&M?

The numbers paint a disappointing picture for Arkansas in their 34-22 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon’s loss to Texas A&M marked the third-straight loss of Arkansas football’s season.

Unlike the first two losses of the year, though, this one felt different. Aside from a couple of brief moments in the second half, the Aggies were in firm control for the majority the contest.

The offense couldn’t get anything going on the ground or through the air, the defense wasn’t able to consistently slow down [autotag]Bobby Petrino[/autotag]’s offensive onslaught and, as the cherry on top, special teams allowed a punt return touchdown.

It was an incredibly disappointing finish for those fans who made the trip to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Does that warrant calls for Sam Pittman’s job? That’s a conversation for a different day.

For now, let’s take a closer look at the numbers from Arkansas’ 34-22 loss to the Aggies and see just how bad things are right now.

KJ Jefferson’s record-breaking day overshadowed by Hogs’ poor performance

Much like the man whose records he broke, KJ Jefferson’s three years as starter are going the way of Matt Jones’.

KJ Jefferson deserved better than to go out like this.

The fifth-year senior quarterback at Arkansas set two Razorbacks records Saturday in the team’s 34-22 loss to Texas A&M and a season that could have cemented Jefferson’s legacy as perhaps the best quarterback in school history, is trending toward being remembered as a massive disappointment.

Not of Jefferson’s doing, mind you, but it will be years before the thing most remembered about Saturday’s game was Jefferson’s setting of the school’s career touchdown and career yardage marks. Heading into Week 6, Jefferson has 8,408 yards of total offense and 78 touchdowns.

Incidentally, the Mississippi native seems to be on-pace with the guy whom he passed, Matt Jones. Arkansas went 9-4, 9-5 and 5-6 in his three years as starter. Arkansas went 9-4, 7-6 and to-be-determined in Jefferson’s three years a primary starter. Jones’ first two seasons are fondly remembered before the final was considered a disappointment, too, much the way Jefferson’s is trending.

Arkansas still has time to fix things, certainly, with the team just a game below .500. But considering Week 6 is at an Ole Miss team that just beat an LSU bunch that Arkansas lost to and Week 7 is the deadly trip to Alabama, the odds of the Razorbacks snapping their three-game losing streak soon are limited.

Still, if Jefferson can stay upright – Arkansas 18 sacks allowed rank the Razorbacks ahead of just eight teams in FBS – lemonade is still in the recipe book.

Everything Sam Pittman said after Arkansas vs Texas A&M

There were precious few positives to take from Arkansas’ loss to the Aggies on Saturday and Sam Pittman knows it.

Arkansas football is in familiar territory right now.

The Razorbacks have lost three straight games at some point in every season since 2016. Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Texas A&M marked that point in 2023 as the Hogs fell to below .500, 2-3, five games into the year.

Overall, the game may have been the team’s worst-played of the year. In last week’s loss to LSU, Arkansas was in the game until the end. The week before against Brigham Young, Arkansas outplayed the Cougars.

But everything Saturday went Texas A&M’s way, from the big plays to the small things.

Coach Sam Pittman knows it was not his team’s best performance and he may have gone so far to admit that it was the worst. Here’s what the head Hogs man had to say after the game.

Arkansas’ Players of the Game vs. Texas A&M: Does anyone deserve it this week?

Just about everything about Arkansas on Saturday against Texas A&M was a disappointment.

Texas A&M is a good football team. Texas A&M is not a great football team.

Right now, Arkansas is losing to good football teams.

The Razorbacks dropped their third straight football game Saturday, this time to the Aggies for the 10th time in the last 11 games, 34-22.

The big play was Arkansas’ death knell. The Aggies intercepted a KJ Jefferson pass and returned it for a touchdown early in the second half and then returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter to take total control.

Arkansas’ offense simply couldn’t respond often enough, even if its defense played fairly well, all things considered.

But you can find summaries elsewhere. This is about Arkansas’ individual players. Here are the Hogs’ Players of the Game, as selected by the RazorbacksWire staff.

Déjà vu in DFW: Hogs fall against A&M because of big plays

Instead of a fumble return for touchdown, it was an interception return and a punt return that doomed Arkansas.

If Saturday seemed familiar for Arkansas football fans, you’re forgiven.

A year after big plays sent Arkansas to a loss against Texas A&M, the same things happened in 2023. The Aggies provided the Razorbacks with a third straight loss, 34-22, in Saturday’s Southwest Classic in Arlington, Texas.

The Razorbacks trailed by just four points late in the third quarter when Chris Russell intercepted KJ Jefferson and returned the pick for a touchdown to lift Texas A&M to a two possession lead. Jefferson’s pass was tipped up in the air behind the line of scrimmage and Russell nicked it out of the air and took it 16 yards for a touchdown.

Midway through the fourth, the Aggies took complete control when Ainias Smith, after fumbling the punt, picked the ball up and ran 82 yards for a punt-return touchdown to give Texas A&M a 34-16 lead.

Arkansas scored a final touchdown with 3:53 left when KJ Jefferson found Andrew Armstrong for a 48-yard score, but the two-point conversion failed and the onside kick did, as well, as the Aggies simply ran out the clock to hold on.

The Razorbacks will seek to snap their three-game skid in Week 6 when they travel to Oxford, Mississippi, to play Ole Miss.

WATCH: Snaxx takes it baxx for the pick-six to get Arkansas back in the game

Lorando Johnson intercepted Max Johnson on the first play of the second half to trim Texas A&M’s lead.

After a disasterous end to the first half, Arkansas needed just one play to get back into the game Saturday.

Lorando Johnson, who goes by the nickname Snaxx, intercepted Texas A&M quarterback Max Johnson on the first play of the second half and returned the pick for a touchdown to pull Arkansas within four points, 17-13.

Johnson had torched the Arkansas secondary in the first half to the tune of two touchdowns and 169 yards passing. His two-yard touchdown pass to Earnest Crownover with 13 seconds left in the half built A&M’s lead to two scores at that point.

The Aggies received the kickoff in the second half, too, threatening to make it a three-score game before Johnson’s pick-six.

Johnson, the team’s starting nickel back, had seven tackles and a pass break-up in four games with the Razorbacks after transferring from Baylor in the offseason.

Arkansas – Texas A&M: LIVE updates, scores and highlights from second half

Arkansas trails Texas A&M 17-6 entering the second half. Follow along for updates, scores and highlights from AT&T Stadium.

Arkansas is in danger of letting this game slip away as they trail the Texas A&M Aggies 17-6 at halftime.

The Hogs trail in almost every statistical category except penalties, which has been the major point of emphasis this week. The Aggies have been called for three penalties, but the Hogs have yet to be flagged.

Texas A&M has 225 yards of total offense compared to Arkansas’ 124 yards. The Hogs have gotten inside the 10-yard line on drive twice, but only have two field goals to show for it. That was a common theme in last week’s loss to LSU, settling for field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.

The Aggies were able to play the game management around halftime perfectly, as they scored to end the half and get the ball to start the second half.

Follow along here for drive-by-drive and score-by-score updates from the second half between Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Arkansas – Texas A&M: LIVE updates, scores and highlights from first half

Follow along for live updates, scores and highlights from all of today’s action in Arkansas and Texas A&M.

The Arkansas Razorbacks enter Saturday’s contest with Texas A&M on a two-game losing skid.

After one-possession losses at home to BYU and on the road to LSU, the Hogs need to get back in the win column on Saturday. If they don’t, they could be looking at a 2-5 start to a season that was once filled with quiet confidence and optimism.

The games in Arlington seem to almost always be close, but Arkansas only has one win over the last 11 games in this series. Bobby Petrino being the new offensive coordinator for the Aggies has added some extra flair to this game, but you can probably expect the same sort of theatrics and drama that this game has been know for in recent history.

Follow along below for live drive-by-drive and score-by-score updates of all the first half action from AT&T Stadium.

Arkansas vs Texas A&M Predictions: Two teams that deserve each other

Our four writers are all picking a game with a maximum margin of 10 points. Expect a tight one between Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Texas A&M may be near a touchdown favorite against Arkansas on Saturday at 11 a.m., but little about most meetings between the Aggies and Razorbacks had made sense in recent years.

The Aggies are without starting quarterback Connor Weigman, replaced by Max Johnson. Johnson has had mixed results against the Razorbacks, though he led Texas A&M to win in this same game last year.

Arkansas may have running back Rocket Sanders back for the first time since Week 1. Sanders was a preseason All-American, but a knee injury has kept him out of the lineup since that season-opening win over Western Carolina.

Texas A&M has won nine of the last 10 games in the meeting in the last 10 years. The old Southwest Conference rivalry was re-estbalished when the Aggies joined the SEC at about that time. Even with all those A&M wins, neither team has won by more than 11 points since 2016.

Here is how our team of editor E. Wayne and contributors Steve Andrews, Connor Goodson and Derek Oxford see Saturday shaking out.