FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema commented earlier this season that feisty offensive tackle Dan Skipper was becoming a "marked man" in SEC circles for his physical play and a knack for getting under the skin of opponents.
Until Saturday, Skipper had been known more for inducing penalties from his opponents, but the 6-10 sophomore had trouble with flags in Arkansas' 35-28 overtime loss to Texas A&M.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Offense
TB Alex Collins
• Saturday’s 131-yard performance was the third 100-yard game this season for the sophomore from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Collins averaged 6.2 yards per carry and had a 50-yard touchdown run to put Arkansas ahead 21-14 in the second quarter.
Defense
LB Martrell Spaight
• Eight of Spaight’s 13 tackles were unassisted. Spaight, a senior from North Little Rock, made tackles from sideline to sideline and in the Hogs’ secondary. He had one tackle for a 3-yard loss.
Skipper's holding penalty in the second quarter brought back a 34-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Henry on a series that eventually ended with an Arkansas punt.
A tripping call on Skipper nullified Jonathan Williams' 55-yard run to the Texas A&M 2 on the first play of the fourth quarter with Arkansas leading 28-14. The Razorbacks had to punt away after that infraction.
"It was tough," quarterback Brandon Allen said. "We did so well, and then we hurt ourselves with a play like that."
Allen said Skipper is tough on himself and that he spoke with the big tackle on the sideline.
"I never worry about Skipper," Allen said. "He's one of the hardest workers, one of the hardest players that I've ever met, and I've got no doubt about him. He's going to bounce back from this."
Bielema also talked to Skipper on the field.
"I let him know on the sideline that you earn everything that you do," Bielema said. "Unfortunately it's a life lesson he's got to go through. Dan Skipper has done a lot of really positive things for us. He's a kid on and off the field that does a lot of really good things, but there was no need for that [tripping penalty]."
Hog votes
Arkansas doubled its point total in the Associated Press Top 25 poll this week to 18 points. The Razorbacks were voted No. 12 by Josh Kendall of The State in Columbia, S.C., No. 23 by Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman and No. 25 by Eric Hansen of the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune.
50-yard club
Sam Irwin-Hill's 51-yard tackle-breaking touchdown run on a fake punt made him the fourth Arkansas player this season to score on a run of 50 yards or longer.
Jonathan Williams scored on a 90-yard run against Nicholls State, while Alex Collins had an 84-yard touchdown at Texas Tech and receiver Keon Hatcher took a first-play handoff 82 yards for a touchdown against Nicholls State.
Collins had a 50-yard scoring run in the second quarter on Saturday before Irwin-Hill's long run behind a large array of blockers.
Off balance
Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin gave a detailed explanation about what made the Arkansas offense difficult to defend during his postgame remarks.
"I thought Jim Chaney had an excellent plan," Sumlin said. "They formationed us and got us in some different situations to create some real problems, some gaps, and they went unbalanced a lot.
"It's a nightmare for what they do. The just don't line up and run over you. They formation you, unbalance, tight ends, motion. And all that time, when you're doing that, you have to fit the gaps properly. ... They create a lot of problems for you defensively."
Opening drive
Arkansas became the first team this season to score on the opening drive of either half against A&M when the Razorbacks went 76 yards in eight plays for a touchdown on their game-opening drive.
Brandon Allen's 28-yard pass to Kendrick Edwards on Arkansas' second offensive play ignited the drive. The sequence also included consecutive runs of 9 and 8 yards by Alex Collins and pass receptions of 13 yards by tight end Jeremy Sprinkle and 14 yards by tight end Hunter Henry before Jonathan Williams scored from 9 yards out.
Third and '3'
The Razorbacks sold their fourth touchdown as a running play, trotting out three tight ends and a tight formation on third-and-2 from the Aggies' 44. Quarterback Brandon Allen's play fake froze Texas A&M safety De'Vante Harris, which allowed tight end AJ Derby to bolt past him from the right side of the formation down the middle of the field.
Allen hid the ball on his hip before raising up and connecting with Derby to put Arkansas ahead 28-14 with 5:02 left in the third quarter.
Field goal fail
Senior John Henson fell to 0 for 2 on field goals of 40-plus yards with his missed 44-yard try with 2:29 remaining. Henson is 30 of 30 on extra points and has made field goals of 22 and 21 yards. He missed a 43-yard try against Northern Illinois.
Coach Bret Bielema said he had a fake field goal call available when Henson ran up under center before the 44-yard kick but Texas A&M wasn't giving the defensive look the Hogs wanted, and Bielema called timeout.
Henson pulled his 44-yard try well left.
"John felt really good about that left hash," Bielema said.
Injury report
Bret Bielema said receiver Demetrius Wilson was not able to practice much last week and wasn't ready to play on Saturday.
Cornerback Henre Toliver suffered a scratch on his eye in the first half and was not able to return, leaving Carroll Washington, Jared Collins and D.J. Dean to play the rest of the way at corner.
Sam's run
Sam Irwin-Hill's 51-yard touchdown run was the senior's fifth fake-punt play during his Arkansas tenure.
Irwin-Hill's first trick play was his 24-yard pass to snapper Alan D'Appollonio on a field-goal drive at Rutgers in the fourth game last season. He also ran 12 yards for a first down at Alabama.
On the negative side, he threw an incomplete pass on fourth down against South Carolina, leading to a Gamecocks touchdown and was stopped on a fourth-and-2 run against Mississippi State, also leading to an opponent touchdown.
Rush 200
Arkansas rushed for 285 yards, giving the Razorbacks 200-plus rushing yards in four consecutive games. It marked the first time Arkansas has accomplished that since 2007.
Worth noting
• The Razorbacks did not allow a sack for the fourth time in five games and became the first Texas A&M opponent this year not to give up a sack.
• Edward Pope's 86-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter was the longest pass play in AT&T Stadium's six years of use.
• Texas A&M's Drew Kaser, a Ray Guy award finalist last year, punted six times Saturday after kicking just eight times in A&M's first four games.
• Arkansas missed out on an opportunity to beat a top-10 team for the first time since the No. 12 Razorbacks beat No. 6 LSU 31-23 in the regular season finale in 2010. An unranked Arkansas team hasn't beaten a top-10 team since Houston Nutt's finale, a 50-48 triple-overtime victory at No. 1 LSU in 2007.
• Texas A&M outscored the Hogs 14-0 in the fourth quarter, giving them a 62-3 edge over opponents in the fourth period.
Hairy situation
Alex Collins gained 9 yards on a run to the Texas A&M 38 in the first quarter, but he could have gotten a lot more if Aggies cornerback Deshazor Everett hadn't tackled Collins by the dreadlocks hanging out of the back of his helmet.
It was a legal tackle because a player's hair is considered part of his uniform.
The Razorbacks scored five plays later to tie the game 7-7.
Sports on 09/29/2014