ARLINGTON, Texas — It goes down as a second straight loss on the season. It’s the eighth straight at the hands of Texas A&M. It’s 13 straight losses to SEC teams.
But there was a point Saturday that it looked like the Arkansas football team was about to earn a true chance at a victory dance. Earn is the key word. I wasn’t impressed with dancing after beating Colorado State. It might have been at the root of the lack of effort against San Jose State.
Yes, there were only a few plays that needed to be made to dance at a great setting for a dance. It was there for the taking with 37 seconds to go and the Hogs looking at a fourth-and-5 at the Aggies’ 19-yard line.
The Hogs needed one more play, but an incompletion on a roll-out, throw back from Ben Hicks to Cheyenne O’Grady fell incomplete. The No. 23 Aggies killed the final 31 seconds for a 31-27 victory.
It was the kind of thriller that left Arkansas fans calling the Hogs because of the supreme effort displayed by their team. And the Aggies walked off rather solemnly, a little bit as they did last year when they survived a similar Arkansas rally.
I give credit to Chad Morris for putting an Arkansas team on the field that looked coached in the proper way. Effort is what I look for first. It’s the essence of coaching. Now, if he can take that same effort to Kentucky after an open date, maybe he’s going to work out just fine. I’d almost bet on it. He gets it right more often than wrong, the dancing after Colorado State being one of those that was wrong.
One week after a poor performance by Arkansas in a shocking loss to San Jose State, the Aggies almost lost as a 23-point favorite. It could have been one of the biggest two-week swings against the odds in Las Vegas history.
There was praise for the Hogs from Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, just glad to get another SEC win.
“Hats off to them,” Fisher said. “They played their tails off. They made plays, a great game.”
Fisher was asked about the way his players drudged off the field. Did they overlook the Razorbacks?
“They didn’t overlook,” Fisher said. “We practiced our tails off. No, they didn’t overlook them. They just knew they didn’t play the best they could.”
The Hogs had something to do with that, partly with the way they fought. The Aggies did some things well, especially on an 11-play, 47-yard drive for a 50-yard field goal to set the final score with 3:52 left.
A huge play was a third-and-9 scramble by Kellen Mond. He dodged linebacker De’Jon Harris in the open field to scramble 18 yards on a play that started from his own 26.
A stop there might have set the Hogs up for a winning field goal. It was plays like that on defense and some botched plays in the red zone that doomed the Hogs.
The Hogs were also plagued by some critical red zone situations that seemed to be botched by the SEC crew led by Steve Marlowe.
The Aggies tackled the running back on a screen pass thrown by Nick Starkel that went for a pass interception on second and goal from the A&M 3-yard line with 5:36 left in the first half. Starkel was injured making the tackle on the return.
A check with an authority on the rules confirmed on the screen, tackling the intended receiver with the ball in the air is not allowed.
Midway through the final UA drive, the Aggies threw Tyson Morris out of bounds on a deep pass from Ben Hicks that should have been pass interference. It was a “free play” because the Aggies had jumped offsides, a penalty that was called.
“You take a shot on those,” Hicks said. “I figured we were about to get a PI call. We got a free play and that’s what you do, take a shot.”
The Hogs shot themselves in the foot on some other chances. Hicks hit Treylon Burks for 50 yards, but that was wiped out when he was covered up on the play making him an ineligible receiver.
“We did some frustrating things, but we kept chugging,” Hicks said. “It hurts so much. It breaks my heart to see our guys play that hard and not get the victory.
“I thought we played our tails off and it was a lot of fun to (compete to the end). It’s all you can ask of your teammates.
“It’s heartbreaking not to get it done, but I’m proud of them, proud to be a part of this program.”
The Arkansas quarterbacks combined to complete 27 of 44 passes for 297 yards. Starkel completed 12 of 17 passes for 109 yards before leaving with the injury. Hicks was a solid 15 of 27 for 188 yards in relief.
Some had wondered if Hicks was plugged in the last couple of weeks as Starkel took over as the starter. Obviously, he was ready.
“I’ve been impressed with him the last two weeks,” O’Grady said. “Ben has been the same person even when he wasn’t in the starting role. He came to practice the same way.”
Morris confirmed that Starkel, with a bruise to his left forearm, was still the starter.
Hicks said it won’t change his workflow.
“I’m going to study tape and practice, try to be as ready as I can,” Hicks said. “This is my last chance to play college football. I’m going to be ready.”
There was chemistry between Hicks and his receivers. He checked out of a run play to complete a back-shoulder throw to Michael Woods for a 13-yard touchdown with 1:55 left in the second quarter.
“Yeah, it was a run call,” Hicks said. “But I saw one-on-one with Mike and I really liked the matchup. I wanted to give him a shot.”
Hicks and Woods hooked up again for a 22-yard completion to the A&M 24 in the final minute. Unfortunately, Hicks was sacked on the next play. A false start — for the Razorbacks’ fifth penalty in the fourth quarter — followed and eventually the Hogs faced third-and-22.
There was hope when Hicks scrambled for 17 yards, but the fourth-and-5 play went incomplete.
“On the scramble, I was about to get sacked,” he said. “I was disappointed that I didn’t get the first down.”
Morris said the throw back for O’Grady on an underneath route didn’t produce the desired “flow” away from the receiver.
“The linebacker didn’t pursue,” Morris said. “We overcame a lot of things in that drive. We covered a guy up. We had false starts.”
It’s the little things that add up in a near miss and that’s what makes the loss so frustrating.
The positive was the effort, so lacking for much of the loss to San Jose State. The Hogs had been ripped all week for that loss and the way they played in falling behind 24-7 at halftime.
“It was a pivotal week for our team,” Morris said. “That performance was unacceptable and it was how we responded. That was all that mattered. There were a lot of challenging of each other and there was a lock in.”
Hicks did not play against San Jose State, but saw a changed team this past week.
“We returned to our work ethic,” he said. “We probably had been reading our press clippings too much after Colorado State.”
The Hogs have a week off to prepare for Kentucky. Hicks said the Texas A&M game should renew some belief within the team.
“You hope everyone is confident,” Hicks said. “But maybe some weren’t sure. Everyone can see what we can be when we play hard.”
Getting close is not the goal.
“We gotta find a way to win,” Morris said. “That’s all it is, we gotta find it. That’s on us as coaches. We will.”
For now, it’s about picking out the improvement. There was lots of good, including the return of Burks, the freshman receiver with four catches for 31 yards and a 32-yard punt return.
Left tackle Colton Jackson and Burks had missed the San Jose State game because of concussions. Jackson’s blocking helped Rakeem Boyd make 89 yards on 18 carries.
The play of the cornerbacks improved, partly because of the return of Montaric Brown. He missed the San Jose State game because of injury. Brown had an interception. Jarques McClellion, the other starter at corner, broke up two passes.
“We were trying to bring pressure and that calls for tight coverage on the outside,” Morris said. “We did bend some, but we didn’t break. I thought (the cornerbacks) played exceptionally hard.”
That’s an improvement. Arkansas fans cheered as the team left the field at AT&T Stadium.
“Thanks to the fans who made the trip,” Morris said. “They were here, loud and made it a great atmosphere.”
Like he did several other times, Morris added that he was “proud” of the effort, but there’s got to be a time when the Hogs find a way to win.
And as he said each time, “We will.”
Until they do, the start of stories will include the length of the meaningful losing streaks. All it takes is one SEC victory to dash them all. It’s right around the corner.