The way that Texas A&M won this game shows that it has what it takes to win the SEC this season. You can check out the ridiculous dime from Knight in the Twitter video below.
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Arkansas stopped at Aggies drive at the Razorback’s four yard line with a fumble recovery to open the second half. And the Razorback offense bailed out the D over the next nine-and-a-half minutes with a grind-it-out before it squandered a third scoring chance from inside the 2-yard line. This clutch turnover resulted in a 10-point swing, as A&M would drive 69 yards for a field goal to knot the score at 10.
Then came the turning point late in the third quarter, as Arkansas was denied on three plays that put the ball a half-foot from the goal line. Most specifically, on three separate drives Arkansas had a 1st-and-goal and only once scored, and it was a field goal – and on that drive, the Hogs actually had three 1st-and-Goals from inside the five after a pair of Aggie penalties. He was dropped for a loss of 6 by the free safety Watts. Then, two plays later, Trevor Knight connected with Josh Reynolds on a 92-yard TD pass to turn the momentum.
It sounds so simple when he says it, but being able to make the tackle when they needed to is a problem that has plagued the Aggies for so long that most fans don’t really know any other way.
“A lot of missed opportunities for us in that game”, Allen said.
Early in the second half A&M responded with a 43 yard touchdown run by quarterback Trevor Knight and the game was tied at 7-7.
The calling card for the 2016 Aggies – who defeated No. 17 Arkansas 45-24 on Saturday at AT&T Stadium – is a bonafide elite defense. His completions percentage was just over 50-percent as he went 12-of-22 through the air for 225 yards and two touchdowns.
It couldn’t happen again, could it? The second was especially egregious as it came just before halftime in a situation in which it’s hard to fathom why the Hogs weren’t in more of a “safe” alignment. The Aggies would finish with 613 total yards.
“I didn’t really see the live part of it”, Bielema said. We were a little loose with the football, gave up some turnovers. When we get hit in the mouth first, we don’t let that get us down.
And this: “We had some guys in the fourth quarter who took the field with a poor demeanor”. Texas A&M has also gone on the road in conference at Auburn, looking good in all three games – again, fourth quarter of the UCLA game aside.
Arkansas (3-1, 0-1 SEC) lost its sixth consecutive SEC opener and was denied its first unbeaten September since 2003.
Arkansas had driven to the Aggies’ 43 late in the first quarter after Hatcher’s 18-yard catch and Sprinkle’s 23-yard catch. Devwah Whaley was hyped nearly as much as Collins was as a freshman, but he’s been almost completely ineffective so far (although he did have a few nice runs tonight and almost broke one). A&M lined 10 men up close and Arkansas simply could not move them. In 2015, they ran for 232 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
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If you take away the three touchdowns, Arkansas still left about 21 points out on the field-or, more accurately, A&M’s defense stole 21 points away from Arkansas. Trayveon Williams did the honors on the first touchdown with a 33-yard scamper and Christian Kirk got his hands on a pass from Knight after the Razorbacks’ fumble.
