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ARLINGTON, TEXAS -- It's never easy in this game, but, as usual, Texas A&M found a way to win.
After taking Arkansas' best punches in the first quarter, the Aggies clamped down and ground the Razorbacks down to take a 21-17 win. The margin of victory should have been larger, but all three phases of the game made plays when they were needed.
Offense
Le'Veon Moss was the unquestioned hero today, going for, count them, 90 yards in the fourth quarter. Starting with the 3rd and 4 on the 49 where he blew through the Razorbacks defense for 23, he ran like he was, for lack of a better term, very pissed off. That was the mindset A&M needed, and he brought it. After single-handedly putting the Aggies into scoring position to take the lead, Moss got A&M out of trouble on the next drive by busting off a 30-yard run to Arkansas territory with the help of a facemask penalty. He then closed the proceedings with two more carries for 14 yards after Arkansas fumbled away their last chance. After today, he's 13 yards from his career high in rushing with 471 and is averaging 6.2 yards a carry.
Marcel Reed didn't have a great day by any stretch, but again, he did enough. He was 11-12 for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he was horrible in the second and third quarters. But when A&M scored, he was on -- which probably isn't coincidental. He hit the deep ball for a 58-yard touchdown to Noah Thomas, and was 4-5 with a touchdown on the decisive drive. He has an awful lot to work on: He was hesitant to take off today, when he could have had some huge chunk plays on the ground. He missed a bunch of wide open receivers because he had already locked in on someone -- normally Thomas. He's patient when he shouldn't be and isn't patient when he should. In other words, he's still an inexperienced quarterback who just made his third start. But he's also 3-0.
The offensive line did not do a good job at all until the fourth quarter, when they simply blew Arkansas off the ball. The Aggies averaged 3.8 yards a carry in the first quarter, 1.9 in the second, 0 in the third, and 7.3 in the fourth. That's domination, but they should also be embarrassed for the first three quarters. They gave up 3 sacks and 7 tackles for loss -- and they were on the linemen, not Reed. Chase Bisontis, Trey Zuhn and Dametrious Crownover all got beat badly at times, the first two certainly for sacks. But in the final quarter, they opened up big holes for Moss and pummeled the Razorbacks up front.
Noah Thomas has had his breakout game. Hopefully. He had a 58-yard touchdown and ended up with 6 catches for 109 yards overall. That's what this offense is going to need. What I liked the most was that he was physical going over the middle, bodying Arkansas defenders as he came open on slants. That's what a guy with his size should do.
Outside of Thomas, nobody had a whole lot to do. Jabre Barber definitely looked like he had a little more pep in his step, and had his two longest catches of his Aggie career. Arkansas seemed scared of Cyrus Allen and tried to take him away for most of the game, but he had a big catch for 22 yards when Reed had to scramble. Tre Watson had a 5-yard touchdown, but that was his only target of the game.
I have a lot to say about playcalling, but I'll get to that below.
Defense
The Aggies took some haymakers in the first quarter, giving up 187 yards of offense and 14 points in the first 15 minutes. After that, they gave up 198 and 3 points. They constantly pressured Taylen Green and forced three turnovers. The last three quarters were excellent.
Nic Scourton had his breakout game. The official stats currently have him with just 3 tackles, all for loss, and a sack. That's garbage. I have him with 3 sacks and a forced fumble. He was absolutely dominant, and he played smart football. He said he knew that Green was going to roll to the right when he realized his guys downfield were covered, and when he did, he starting looking for the strip.
Shemar Stewart made himself some money today. He had 4 tackles and .5 TFL, but he was one of the major reasons Green was running for his life most of the day. A&M's defensive ends dominated Arkansas' tackles, embarrassing them repeatedly. His forced fumble that set A&M at the Arkansas 10 was sheer brutality. The Shemar Stewart we've been waiting for has started to appearl.
Arkansas got just over 100 yards, at 106 -- but that required a 25-yard run by their punter to do so. JaQuinden Jackson, who came into the game with 472 rushing yards at 6.8 yards a carry, was held to 37 on 10 rushing attempts. His long was 11 yards. Outside of that, all the big carries were on jet sweeps. The Aggies did a good job of staying home and not allowing cutback lanes. They also got outside to handle the toss sweep, something they've struggled with all year, after the first quarter.
The secondary blew a huge assignment on Arkansas' first possession, leading to a 75-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Teesla. After that, Green's long for the game was 27 yards. They weren't great, but they didn't let the Hogs' receivers get behind them. Will Lee and Dezz Ricks actually had good games, with Ricks getting his first career interception. Lee had four passes broken up and did a great job in one-on-one matchups with Anthony Armstrong and Tyrone Broden.
There were a lot of soft coverages in the second and third quarter that Green took advantage of, but they became very conscious of not letting anyone get deep after the big hitter to Teesla.
Jaydon Hill had a weird day. He busted the coverage on the long touchdown, then came back and had a sack where he nearly took Green's head off, then recovered the final fumble. But the fact of the matter is he is a liability in pass coverage. BJ Mayes, who has apparently moved ahead of Bravion Rogers at nickel, is a lot better in that department.
The linebackers started off poorly, then came on strong late. They got out of position on the jet sweeps early on, but were a key factor in limiting Jackson as the game went on. Scooby Williams had a fumble recovery, Daymion Sanford had 3 tackles and Taurean York had 4. Solomon DeShields had 2 tackles and a hurry. They weren't great, but weren't a real liability as the game went on.
The safeties, like the linebackers, didn't start off well but came on. Dalton Brooks, who saw a lot of playing time due to the speed of Arkansas' receivers (and Bryce Anderson not being 100%), had 7 tackles, including 5 solo, and 2 tackles for loss. There were several times where he was the difference between a 2- or 3-yard gain and a big play. Marcus Ratcliffe had 5 tackles and half a tackle for loss. Trey Jones had a couple of tackles, but also got picked on some. But the big thing was that the safeties did not allow Luke Hasz to go off. He had a single catch for 2 yards.
A&M has not given up more than 20 points in a game all season. They are +6 in turnover margin. They just had their best game in terms of sacks and tackles for loss. The defense appears to be finding its footing.
Special Teams
Normally, when a punter has a huge game, you lose. But because of Tyler White, A&M won.
White was fantastic today, with an average of 43.8 yards a punt, a long of 58 and 7 punts inside the 20 yard line, including five at or inside the 10. That's just remarkable precision.
A&M really blew it on Devin Bale's 25-yard run that set up Arkansas' second touchdown. Coach Mike Elko said it wasn't even a called fake, he just saw a hole and took it. Considering it was prime position for a fake (at the 46), they should have been aware of it anyway.
Later in the game, they were aware of the limitations of Kyle Ramsey and were waiting for a fake. When Bale came up to throw, he never had a prayer. Stewart and Ratcliffe buried him.
Coaching
Props immediately go to Elko for getting this team to believe in themselves and not being fazed when they went down 7-0, 14-7 or 17-14 with time running down. He said there was never any panic, that they knew what they were capable of doing and they did it.
I was extremely disappointed in the offensive playcalling today, as I have been most of this season. It was very bland, uninventive and outright dull for most of the game. But, conveniently enough, Collin Klein's best-called drive was the game-winner.
I have no idea if Klein realizes it, but everyone else in the stadium knew that second down was going to be a run right up the gut. Didn't matter who the back was, or the down and distance. Right up the gut. And Arkansas, for most of the game, stuffed it. When they started to run more in the guard-tackle gaps, they started to see success.
I don't understand the refusal to use the legs of a very good running quarterback. Part of that was Arkansas doing a good job of keeping Reed in the pocket, but he also seemed hesitant to run. The offense operated best when the Reed rolled out of the pocket, either giving him an opportunity to throw unimpeded or to take off. Marcel Reed should never end up with 13 yards rushing.
But when your quarterback is struggling, and at one point Reed went 1-9, why are you continuing to run long routes with low chances of success? Where is the tight end? Watson had one catch for 5 yards -- a touchdown. Nothing else. Theo Ohrstrom? Bupkus. No quick slants or drag routes. Very little RPO, even though when they did do it, they scored.
I thought Jay Bateman called a solid game today. Obviously, nobody wants to give up 187 yards in the first quarter, but A&M took Arkansas' best shot and then shut them down. Arkansas went 3 and out three times, was picked off to end a drive, fumbled on the first play of a drive and then fumbled to lost the game. All of those were good defensive plays, not offensive blunders (even though Green should have never thrown the pass Ricks picked off).
A&M had three sacks (should be more), 10 tackles for loss and a generously low 8 hurries. Bateman knew the Aggies could get pressure and helped his defensive ends out so they did. The defense tackled extremely well in space. After the big touchdown pass to Teesla, they didn't let anything get over their heads. An imperfect performance, to be sure, but the last three quarters were very strong.