Texas A&M players Christian Kirk, Armani Watts, Landis Durham, Keith Ford talk about the overtime win over Arkansas.
Another loss to Aggies may have Bielema’s seat warm
ARLINGTON, Texas — After beating Arkansas in overtime for the third time in four years and sixth year in a row, Texas Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin isn’t off the hot seat.
With five straight losses in Jerry Jones’ AT&T Stadium, Bret Bielema may have put himself on it squarely.
And it’s a place he’ll stay for a couple of weeks after the Razorbacks’ 50-43 loss in yet another overtime game to A&M.
“It’s just gut-wrenching,” he said later.
This one maybe more than any other and while he once again talked about how close this team is to winning, there were enough blunders to make you wonder.
Maybe the biggest came in a wild final five minutes that left everyone drained and made up for a game that was a 28-27 yawner.
After the Aggies had taken a 33-28 lead after the Hogs’ defense allowed A&M running back Keith Ford (14 carries for 102 yards, two touchdowns) to blow through a gaping hole and ramble 44 yards for his second score.
He would have added a 2-point conversion but bumbled a lateral out of bounds, leaving it at 33-28 in the Aggies’ favor with 8:46 to play.
Arkansas answered, though.
Austin Allen hit key passes, first to Cheyenne O’Grady for 15 yards on a third-and-7, then 44 yards down the left sideline to Jonathan Nance for a score with 5:21 to play, then hit tight end Jeremy Patton for the 2-point conversion and it was 36-33, Hogs.
Then Christian Kirk, who had a monster game for the Aggies, got loose … again (he had scored earlier on an 81-yard scoring pass).
Kirk gathered in Connor Limpert’s kickoff and went 100 yards to immediately put the Aggies back on top, 40-36.
“We haven’t had a kick return for a touchdown in, I think it’s about seven years,” Kirk said later. “I don’t know what it is, the exact number. But, you know, Coach (Jeff) Banks is always emphasizing, we need to get one, we’re going to hit one. And we were close last weekend.
“He’s able to see, you know, what they’re running throughout the game. So he saw what their scheme was, he drew up a new return in the game and the guys up front just went out there and executed. All I had to do was just hit the hole and go.”
The Aggies side went wild. The Hogs side went numb.
But not for long.
Allen got the ball back and needed just four plays to march 75 yards, completing passes to tight end Austin Cantrell for 31 yard,s, then David Williams for 20 and a 45-yarder to Nance on the same route he scored on earlier.
Williams got the final 4 yards and it was 43-40, but you got the feeling the Hogs left too much time on the clock.
They tried to pop the kick to the middle, not wanting to give Kirk another chance, and the 12th Man, Cullen Gillaspia snatched it out of the air, bounced off a tackler and rumbled for 14 yards to the Arkansas 49 with 3:39 to go.
“We were trying to get it on the SEC logo right there in the middle, trying to get in a nice open area,” Bielema said. “The kid did a nice job of catching it. And a couple of guys already thought the play was down and he ran for about 10, 15 yards.”
You had the feeling if the Aggies scored too quickly, the Hogs would still have time, but they didn’t.
A&M quarterback Kellen Mond, who went the distance, hitting 14-of-27 for 216 yards and two touchdowns converted a fourth-and-3 on a 7-yard pass to Damion Ratley for 7 and the Aggies were getting close.
They started playig the clock then, getting it to the Arkansas 9 with eight second left and Daniel LaCamera hit a 27-yard field goal and it was overtime again.
Sumlin knew exactly what we was thinking going into overtime.
“I knew that, if we had our druthers, we wanted to play on that that end of the field,” he said, pointing to the west side where the Aggie band and fans were.”Your probably know why.”
A&M got the ball first, headed towards their fans, and got a pass interference call against Hogs corner Kamren Curl that will be argued for awhile and scored on a pass from Mond to a diving Kirk in the end zone. That gave the Aggies a 50-43 lead.
Arkansas tried, getting to the Texas A&M 12, but on third-and-8, Austin Allen’s pass was intercepted by Aggies defender Armani Watts in the end zone, ending the game.
For Sumlin, he knows he’s not off the hot seat. The Aggies want at least nine wins and right now he’s six short with a bunch of SEC games left to play.
“It’s more about week to week and not what’s out there in front and everybody is going to try to paint this picture or paint that picture,” he said.
Bielema didn’t address his situation, but he did get choked up towards the end.
“It’s hard because we put a lot into it and my kids put a lot into it,” he said. “You get a lot of negativity, and I wish I could do something for them.
“I know this. We’re going to be all right.”
Considering the Hogs are now 1-2 on the season with nine more games staring at them, including seven SEC opponents, fans aren’t so sure.
And Bielema’s seat will warm up considerably.
Not to mention others.
Nance on big catches late in A&M loss
Hogs wide receiver Jonathan Nance on his touchdown catch, then another big catch right after it on nearly same play.
Austin Allen after ‘disappointing loss’
Hogs quarterback Austin Allen with the media after the 50-43 overtime loss to Texas A&M.
Hogs running back David Williams after A&M loss
Arkansas running back David Williams talks about the overtime loss to Texas A&M.
Is ‘disagreement’ routine or warning sign for Hogs?
This has been a strange and interesting couple of weeks.
First, we have Bret Bielema and his coordinators telling us how close this team is to “being something to be proud of.”
Now that is a statement that over the last 40-plus years I’ve only heard from coaches talking about getting a team to .500. Every single time that phrase was uttered, that was what he was talking about.
None of them made it, in case you’re wondering.
What you expect to hear from coaches in their fifth season at a school is how close they are to competing for a championship, not something the fans can be proud of.
And, quite frankly, it may be another sign Bielema has no clue what the Arkansas fan base wants or expects. It’s been clear for awhile Jeff Long doesn’t have a clue, but there was some hope Bielema was kinda getting it.
But apparently not.
Is this a team that is teetering on the edge of implosion?
That leads us to the second, a “minor incident,” as Bielema termed it Thursday. It may have been just that.
Even if it was it may be a warning sign.
This team hasn’t played like a real cohesive unit at any point this season. Don’t throw the Florida A&M game out there, either. The Hogs saw better players every day in practice.
But is it a clue to the second-half collapses that have become a habit?
We were told by the national media’s talking wags that Bielema teams are physical and they grind you down as the game goes on.
Over the last four seasons plus two games that has rarely happened and in most cases the Hogs were the ones being ground down. That gives you a 26-27 overall record and an average of 2.5 wins in the SEC per season.
No one at this point is expecting a repeat of that first Bielema season. Not even me.
For starters, the SEC is not as strong as it was then. Alabama is still, well, Alabama, but everybody else is a week-to-week proposition.
The Razorbacks haven’t improved as much as the rest of the league has backed up to let Bielema and the Hogs get on the bus.
You have one team in the league everybody else really respects and a bunch of others that folks are giggling at right now. Don’t throw bowl games up as being representative of anything anymore. Too many players opting out of playing that extra game before going to the NFL Draft.
No, the SEC is not what it once was top to bottom, mainly because the better coaches now are in the ACC and Big 10. Interesting that Bielema was in the Big 10 when it was as weak as it has been in awhile, comes to the SEC and sees it fall into the tank.
While there isn’t a program out there that takes three years to completely rebuild, Bielema has gotten the benefit of the doubt from a forgiving fan base.
But you get the idea from talk shows and our own Facebook posts that the time for forgiveness has passed.
The fans want — and expect — wins now.
Losing to TCU is one thing. The way the Hogs lost that one is what has everyone chafing.
Now we hear they were close, which is Bielema’s go-to phrase that we’ve heard since 2013. We were told it was going to be special and how close the Hogs were for four years.
If Bielema thought 2015 was a success, he didn’t understand the situation. It was successful only if things improved in 2016 and 2017.
Now we have at least one incident of players fighting in the lockerroom and it being dismissed as, ho-hum, it happens every day.
There may be some extra conditioning, but coaches can’t even do that much anymore because the players will quit and transfer somewhere else. They are doing it in record numbers these days.
No, this is a team we suspected back in fall camp wasn’t exactly brimming with talent in the lines or with proven playmakers at the skill positions.
Nothing we’ve seen in the first two games has changed that.
And now there is an incident with the No. 1 running back and a wide receiver that hasn’t been in a game this season.
You hope it’s not a warning sign. But the question is out there now, in the back of fans’ minds if nothing else.
And it will linger for awhile.
Until there are some wins.
UPDATE: Bielema says Whaley cleared to play
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said on his radio show Thursday night that running back Devwah Whaley has been cleared to play against Texas A&M on Saturday.
“He’s ready to play,” Bielema said of Whaley, the starter for the Hogs.
“How many times are 21-year-olds in an disagreement? Devwah is excited to play in the game in his home state.”
Bielema termed it as an altercation between two players and dismissed it as something happens on a fairly frequent basis.
Earlier Thursday, reports from multiple sources of unrest in the Arkansas football locker room, including a scuffle Wednesday between Whaley and backup wide receiver Brandon Martin.
Thursday, Whaley tweeted that he was traveling with the team to Saturday’s game in Arlington with Texas A&M, but didn’t mention playing.
I appreciate everyone's concerns. I'm set to travel with my teammates and take on Texas A&M in my home state.
— Devwah Whaley (@devwah_whaley) September 21, 2017
Whaley, a sophomore from Beaumont, Texas, is the second leading rusher on the team with 92 yards on 22 carries through the first two games.
Martin, a junior college transfer from Gulf Coast Community College and a Monroe, Louisiana, native, hasn’t caught a pass this season.
The scuffle reportedly ended with Whaley’s jaw catching the brunt of it.
The status of any injuries is not known at this time or if any disciplinary action has been taken.
HitThatLine.com and ESPN Arkansas have reached out to the Razorbacks’ sports communications department, but have not received a reply.
We will have further updates as the story develops and on The Morning Rush in the morning.
