Five games in, Arkansas still doesn’t have an SEC win.
Saturday night at Kyle Field never looked like the place it was going to find one.
Texas A&M beat the Razorbacks 34-7 and led by 24 less than three minutes into the second half.
The Hogs are now 2-3 and 0-2 in the league.
Georgia blew them out earlier this season. This one wasn’t much different. About the only reason it wasn’t as bad is the Aggies might not be as good as the Bulldogs.
A&M had lost two straight, to Kentucky and LSU. That was the reason of hope for many Hogs’ fans and folks that were predicting them to win.
Last week at LSU, A&M put up six points. It had 24 on Arkansas by halftime. The final could have been much worse.
Aggies run the ball and keep it
The same offense that managed 68 rushing yards in that game went for 231 on the Razorbacks.
The plan wasn’t a secret. The Aggies kept the ball on the ground for 15 of their first 18 snaps.
Marcel Reed and KJ Edwards each ran for 66 yards. Edwards scored twice, from 20 yards and from 3.
Reed added a 1-yard touchdown run and threw for 170 yards. His 54-yard pass to Kiotti Armstrong set up the second Edwards score.
When the Hogs did get A&M to third down, often didn’t really matter very often. The Aggies converted 9 of 16.
The yardage wasn’t close either, 401 for A&M and 214 for Arkansas. The Razorbacks’ offense was on the field for less than 22 minutes.
The Aggies’ David Olano handled the rest with field goals of 57 and 50 yards. The 57-yarder came as the first half ended and was the longest of his career.
Mistakes pile up for the Hogs
Arkansas made things harder on itself all night.
It started on the third play. KJ Jackson forced a deep throw and safety Dalton Brooks picked it off. A&M took over at the Arkansas 28.
Carsyn Baker scored from 2 yards out eight plays later.
In the second quarter, the defense held A&M to a short field goal. Then the flag came out for 12 men on the field, and the Aggies got a first down instead. Counting to 11 shouldn’t really be the hard part.
A holding call erased another third-down stop on the same drive. Reed scored soon after to make it 21-7.
The offense had its own trouble. The Hogs got the ball at the Aggies’ 43 on a punt-team penalty, then went backward on a false start and a sack. Max Gilbert missed left from 55 yards.
In the fourth quarter, Arkansas called timeout before a fourth-and-6. It came back and jumped early. So the timeout bought a 5-yard penalty, and fourth-and-11 went nowhere.
Marshall’s catch is all the offense gets
Chris Marshall gave the Razorbacks their only points.
He caught three passes on one first-quarter drive. The last one went for 26 yards and a touchdown, and he only needed one hand to catch it.
That cut it to 14-7. Arkansas didn’t score again.
Marshall ended up with seven catches for 76 yards.
Jackson completed 13 of 25 throws for 111 yards. He had one score and one pick.
The run game had a moment in the third quarter. Braylen Russell went 30 yards on third-and-1, and the Hogs reached first-and-goal.
Russell got the ball again on fourth down at the 1. He lost 2 yards.
A&M has now won 14 of the last 15 in this series. Arkansas, which went 2-10 last year, hosts No. 17 Tennessee next Saturday.
