Razorbacks Hope to End Disappointing Drought Against A&M

Arkansas needs 'A' game to win while No. 24 Aggies primed for impressive performance after last week's dud

Arkansas Razorbacks running back Rodney Hill (20) runs the ball against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Gut feeling says "both" when it comes to whether Texas A&M is not as good as expected — which is usually the case — or if the Aggies were simply looking past last week's opponent in anticipation of today's showdown with Arkansas.

The Aggies will be primed to plaster the Hogs in Big D (or close by). Whether they do remains to be seen, but Arkansas better bring it's "A" game for this slugfest.

All the recruiting services experts (or perhaps just folks with a keyboard handy), along with sportswriters and coaches, figure A&M should be one of the country's best teams. Notre Dame traveled to Kyle Field and whipped the home boys, 23-13, in the season opener, primarily because of an edge in takeaways (2-0, both interceptions) and yards per play (5.6 to 3.6).

The Fighting Irish celebrated, then apparently took the week off when it came to practice, then lost their home opener to Group of Five upstart Northern Illinois, 16-14. Then Northern Illinois lost 23-20 to Buffalo in overtime the next week.

Moral of the story: week to week doesn't mean anything. The teams that stay focused win championships.

Don't look ahead. Don't take anyone for granted. For Arkansas, those days should be over as all remaining games but one are against SEC foes.

There once was a time where it was a sportswriter's job to play the game of this team beat that team which beat the other team, so then the first team should be national champion. However, it's long since been proven that it really doesn't work that way.

In this age of a 12-team playoff come bowl season, the teams that sign great recruits and plays consistent, mistake-free football have a shot at playing when it matters most. The most important thing is finding a win, however it may come to survive to the next week.

There is some symmetry to Arkansas' 37-27 win against lightly-regarded UAB and A&M narrowly escaping with a 26-20 "victory" last week over Bowling Green. Both teams were likely scanning the schedule and seeing a bigger test the following week.

Aggies boss Mike Elko, who was defensive coordinator in College Station for four seasons (2018-21) before coaching at a basketball school the last two, put a good spin on last week's less-than-stellar effort by his team.

"Proud of our team doing the things they needed to do to come away with a win," the former Duke coach said.

More like relieved. Losing to an inferior football team when most of the country — and especially A&M's fan base and boosters — don't even know where it's located is the kind of day that gets coaches fired. Just ask Jack Crowe.

Meanwhile, the Hogs followed up an upset bid by UAB by waltzing into Auburn and strutting out with a victory to get to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. It was a nice recovery and a big win.

Still, teams can't truly say they're atop the conference until everyone's played at least two games.

If the HOgs want to get to 2-0 today, they'd better be prepared for the best the Aggies can deliver because Bowling Green didn't see A&M's top effort, or at least its top performance. Like Arkansas last week, A&M will be ready to make up for the previous week's disappointing showing by walking away with an SEC scalp.

This should be a good match-up despite the Aggies being favored by about 5.5 points. Kickoff is at 2:30 on ESPN in Jerry World, otherwise known as AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

"We’re excited to go down in (Dallas Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones’ place, an old Arkansas alumni, and excited to get down there," Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said during the weekly SEC teleconference.

Pittman said his players have had a good week of practice and he's anxious for kickoff. Of the Aggies, he noted: "Very, very physical team. Lot of speed."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (left) presents the winner s trophy to Texas A&M Aggies coach Jimbo Fischer (right) after the Aggies victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks at AT&T Stadium. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

This game is also big when it comes to recruiting the entire state of Texas and especially the fertile turf that encompasses the Dallas-Fort Worth area. When the schools signed a 15-year contract to play in the Metroplex rather, Arkansas won the first three with current offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino as head coach. Since then, it's almost all Aggies since they joined the SEC in 2012.

That 11-1 dominance includes a home-and-home sweep, six straight in Jerry World — the 80,000-seat palace with a retractable roof — and a win in College Station during the pandemic of 2020. Pittman's 9-4 team ended the streak with a 20-10 win in 2021 but lost the last two.

Most have been close, though. Six of the nine losses in the last 10 years have been by one score and three went to overtime. Expect another nail-biter today.

HOGS FEED:

• Even non-football folks paying attention to Razorbacks-Aggies

• Tight ends big key matchup between Razorbacks and Texas A&M on Saturday

• Green gives credit to all Razorbacks with no prompting

• Possible win total for Razorbacks to receive playoff bid

• Razorbacks seek REVENGE against Texas A&M | Locked on Razorbacks

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