Aggies shoot it out with Arkansas again, win 45-42
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — It was Texas A&M and Arkansas, so it had to be a shootout. And, as usual, the Aggies had one more bullet in the barrel.
No. 4 Texas A&M fought off a persistent group of Razorbacks to win 45-42 to go to 7-0 for the first time in 31 years. The Aggies (7-0, 4-0 SEC) led nearly the entire way, but Arkansas (2-5, 0-3 SEC) continued to rally and make things entirely too close for comfort.
“I guess it doesn’t matter where we play this game. That’s just how this game is going to go, whether we played in Jerry’s World (AT&T Stadium) or we played on campuses,” coach Mike Elko said. “It’s the sixth game that I’ve been part of, Texas A&M against Arkansas. It’s the sixth one that has come down to the final drive in the fourth quarter.”
Scoringfest began immediately
The two teams combined for more than 1,000 yards of total offense and the tempo was set immediately, as Arkansas shot down the field as running back Mike Washington carried for 71 yards on 5 carries, including a 48-yarder, before the Razorbacks had their drive stall inside the A&M 5 and settled for a field goal.
The Aggies came right back with a 75-yard drive that established another trend that would last throughout the game: A&M’s ability to convert fourth downs. After a replay deemed quarterback Marcel Reed to be a half-yard short on a 5-yard scramble, Elko didn’t hesitate and went for it on the A&M 34. Running back Rueben Owens easily converted, continuing a drive that would end with a perfectly thrown 24-yard touchdown pass from Reed (23-32, 280 yards, 3 TD passing; 6 carries, 55 yards, 1 TD rushing) to Ashton Bethel-Roman (4 catches, 83 yards, 1 TD), which was Bethel-Roman’s first score of the year.
“They were playing inside leverage, and me and Marcel, we just connected all week (on that play),” Bethel-Roman said. “So I took what I did from to practice the game, and it worked out.”
Arkansas started to move the ball again on their next drive, but were faced with a 4th and 1 at their own 49-yard line after an 18-yard pass from Taylen Green to receiver Raylen Sharpe on 3rd and 19. Razorbacks coach Bobby Petrino decided he would also go for it, but a blitzing Marcus Ratcliffe disrupted the play and forced Green to throw the ball away before he was taken down for a sack.
The Aggies traveled the 49 yards in six plays, aided by a pair of Arkansas penalties to continue the drive. With a 1st and goal at the Arkansas 3, Reed bootlegged out and strolled in for a 14-3 lead.
Green started a prolonged dissection of the A&M offense on the next drive, with a 33-yard scramble when the Aggies applied pressure on the first play from scrimmage. Arkansas would move down inside the A&M 10 again, but after Green was knocked out of the game for a play after falling awkwardly on a 2-yard loss, the Razorbacks would have to settle for another chip shot field goal.
Reed started A&M’s next drive with another big completion to Bethel-Roman, an 18-yarder that moved the ball out to the 43-yard line. The Aggies would sputter a little, moving to the Arkansas 48 and facing another 4th and 1. It looked like Arkansas had gotten a big stop after Reed threw up a pass to tight end Nate Boerkircher, who was triple-covered, but Elko had called timeout just before the snap. After the timeout, Owens smashed through for 5 yards and a first down.
Arkansas helped the Aggies out again with another penalty, getting nailed for disconcerting signals and moving A&M’s 3rd and 7 at the Razorbacks 28 to 3rd and 2 at the 23. After finding a slipping KC Concepcion for 3 yards to get the first down, he came back to a crossing Concepcion on the next play for 19 yards. Two plays later, Reed flipped an easy touchdown pass to Boerkircher off of playaction from a yard out.
Arkansas rally cuts A&M’s halftime lead to 1
With a 21-6 lead and just 3:32 left in the half and getting the ball after halftime, it looked like the Aggies had the game in hand. But Green (19-32, 256 yards, 3 TD passing; 11 carries, 86 yards, 2 TD rushing) came back with a 34-yard completion to a wide open tight end Rohan Jones, then broke out of the pocket and sprinted for a 27-yard touchdown run.
“He’s a tremendous player,” Elko said of Green. “Every time I felt like we were kind of trying to get a grasp of the game, he did something remarkable to keep it in their hands.”
After Arkansas was able to force one of just two Aggie punts on the day, Washington (16 carries, 147 yards) ripped off a 57-yard run to move the ball to the A&M 7-yard line. Two plays later, and with just 2 seconds on the clock, Green scrambled around before finding receiver O’Mega Blake for touchdown. Arkansas went into the locker room down just 21-20 and with all the momentum.
But A&M still got the ball after halftime, and Reed took full advantage. After an 18-yard completion to Boerkircher, Reed showed Arkansas that the Aggies have a running quarterback as well, finding a gap in the blitzing Razorback defense and took off for a 46-yard gain. One play later, he connected with Concepcion (5 catches, 53 yards, 1 TD) for a 17-yard touchdown.
“That was Marcel’s best game of the year. He did a lot of things with his arm, with his legs, extended drives, did a really good job in the passing game, spread the ball around,” Elko said.
After forcing a rare Arkansas punt, the Aggies began another scoring march at their own 16. Reed immediately found Terry Bussey for a 25-yard catch and run, then a roughing the passer penalty moved A&M into Arkansas territory.
The Aggies then unleashed a new and unexpected weapon — running back EJ Smith. Smith picked up 21 yards on two carries, which helped the Aggies get down inside the Arkansas 20, where they settled for a 28-yard field goal from Randy Bond to go up 31-20.
A&M’s special teams then helped out the Razorbacks, as Jared Zirkel shanked the kickoff out of bounds, giving Arkansas the ball at their 35. Seven plays later, Green dove in from a yard out for his second rushing score of the night.
“It felt like we had maybe kind of settled in, and we’re doing things that we wanted to do, and then (Green) would do something, and he just made an awful lot of plays in the second half,” Elko said.
Reed keeps offense rolling while defense does just enough
But Reed could do a few things as well. Getting help from both Owens (14 carries, 69 yards, 2 TD rushing; 2 catches, 27 yards receiving) and Smith (7 carries, 52 yards; 1 catch, 7 yards) who had both big runs and key receptions as the Aggies marched back into the Red Zone. It appeared that Smith had a spectacular 19-yard touchdown run, where he jumped one defender and stiff-armed another, but a holding call on receiver Mario Craver brought the ball back to the 14. One play later, Owens burst through a hole and run it in, trucking an Arkansas defender in the process.
The Aggies took a 38-27 lead into the fourth quarter, but it didn’t last long. After a pair of big completions to Blake, Green found former A&M tight end Jaden Platt in the corner of the end zone for a diving 4-yard touchdown reception. The Razorbacks went for 2 and converted, cutting A&M’s lead to 38-35.
It looked like Arkansas might have a chance to take the lead as the Aggies faced a 4th and 1 at their own 34 and, again, they went for it. Smith tried to go off left tackle, but ran into the backside of tight end Micah Riley. But instead of going down, Smith surged forward again and picked up 2 yards to keep the drive alive.
“I was thinking words that I probably shouldn’t say because I was very frustrated. But then when I seen him fall forward, I was like, ‘Yeah. EJ is great,” Bethel-Roman said.
Two plays later, Reed found a streaking Bethel-Roman down the left sideline for a 37-yard completion, setting the stage for Owens’ second score of the night, a 16-yarder with minimal difficulty.
The Aggies would essentially salt the game away on Arkansas’ next possession, as Cashius Howell and Dayon Hayes finally sacked Green for a massive loss of 20 yards. Arkansas would punt with 5:50 left down 10, and it looked like the Aggies were going to run away with it after Reed scrambled for what appeared to be a 57-yard touchdown — but a questionable holding call on Chase Bisontis wiped it out.
Arkansas would take over at their 7 after an A&M punt and a block in the back penalty. Once again, Green showed his magic, running for 49 yards on 4th and 5 from the Arkansas 12. The Aggies would sack him twice more on the drive, but Arkansas converted a 2nd and 33 with a 36-yard completion to Blake to keep things moving. But the drive was taking up a lot of time, and Petrino inexplicably did not use his timeouts until there were 13 seconds left in the game. Green would find CJ Brown for a last-ditch touchdown with just 10 seconds remaining, but Bussey recovered the onside kick, allowing the Aggies to escape.
“The offense never let them get the ball back with a chance to get the lead. I thought that was huge .. It’s a credit to our offense,” Elko said. “Defensively, we picked a really, really bad night to play bad football.”
But that sting hurts a whole lot less when you’re 7-0 and the only unbeaten team in the SEC.
