Hog Calls

Hogs in better position to topple Aggies

Arkansas junior wide receiver Dominique Reed tries to get around Texas A&M senior cornerback De'Vante Harris on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Since former Southwest Conference foe Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012, the Aggies have given Arkansas fits.

The Aggies have owned the annual September clash, winning all four times against their SEC West rival. The early date on the calender has allowed the fast-starting Aggies to take advantage of the Razorbacks' early season struggles.

Coach Bret Bielema's 17th-ranked, 3-0 Razorbacks and Coach Kevin Sumlin's 10th-ranked, 3-0 Aggies meet again in tonight's 8 o'clock ESPN televised game at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

It marks the Razorbacks' SEC opener.

A&M, 1-0 in the SEC, won last Saturday at Auburn.

Under Bobby Petrino, the Razorbacks went 3-0 against A&M in the post-SWC rivalry annually renewed in 2009 as the Aggies represented the Big 12 and Arkansas the SEC.

It was the misfortune of John L. Smith in 2012 (4-8, 2-6 SEC) and Bret Bielema in 2013 (3-9, 0-8) to coach teams in the wake of Petrino crashing both his Arkansas career and the Arkansas football program with his scandal-revealing motorcycle accident in April 2012. Petrino's pitfall prefaced 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel's reign as quarterback of Texas A&M.

Even those two bad Razorbacks teams would have played A&M better in November than in September, based on Arkansas' competitive season-ending losses in 2012 and 2013 to LSU teams ranked eighth and 15th nationally.

A&M, 11-2 in its first SEC season, fell to 3-3 its last six games of 2013 to finish 9-4. The Aggies finished 3-5 in the SEC in the past two seasons, wrapping 8-5 campaigns in 2014 and 2015.

These current Aggies again bolted from the blocks typically fast, beating then No. 16 UCLA of the Pac-12 in their season opener at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. They also hold an impressive SEC road victory at Auburn, too.

Bielema's 7-6 2014 Razorbacks went 4-2 their last six games. The 8-5 Hogs of 2015 won six of their last seven. Taking nine of their last 10 since midseason 2015 has instilled winning habits into the Razorbacks.

After struggling to edge 25-point underdog Louisiana Tech 21-20, the Razorbacks upset then-No. 15 TCU 41-38 in double overtime at Fort Worth. They followed up that confidence-builder by dominating outclassed Texas State 42-3.

Routing Texas State might seem ho-hum, but for Arkansas it sure beats losing like the Razorbacks did vs. underdogs Louisiana-Monroe in 2012, Rutgers in 2013, and Toledo and Texas Tech in 2015.

Favored Auburn defeated Arkansas at Auburn, Ala., to open the 2014 campaign.

Tonight marks Arkansas' first time in the SEC to meet the Aggies while unbeaten.

That should help an Arkansas team that for the past two years has outplayed A&M for most of regulation but apparently lacked confidence to seal the deal and lost in overtime.

Sports on 09/24/2016