Tye & JD on the win over A&M, looking ahead to Georgia his big finance test and more!
The Morning Rush is LIVE!!
The Morning Rush is live on a Hot Take Monday after the A&M win in Dallas!!
How high did Hogs leap in media, coaches polls Sunday?
All of these power polls and rankings really don’t mean a lot for another couple of months but Arkansas is getting back in the mix.
They are higher than at any point since 2012. Of course that was a rather forgettable year when they started high and finished nowhere.
The 20-10 win over Texas A&M added some legitimacy to a 4-0 start. Taking ownership over the biggest teams in Texas doing it is just a bonus.
Finally back where it belongs! A huge thank you from our staff and players for the fans support yesterday! #turnthatdamnjukeboxon #gohogs pic.twitter.com/LSEeHnu6pc
— Coach Sam Pittman (@CoachSamPittman) September 26, 2021
Right or wrong a large number of folks in Arkansas would rather beat the Longhorns and Aggies than the Crimson Tide or Tigers.
Sunday, the Hogs moved seven spots in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll to No. 11, which has kept them a couple of spots behind the media poll.
They leaped all the way to No. 8 in the Associated Press poll.
In the win over the Aggies, Sam Pittman got Hogs coaches Eric Musselman (men’s basketball) and Dave Van Horn (baseball) to be on the sidelines. Those are the two most visible coaches right now.
Turn that damn jukebox on @CoachSamPittman!! @RazorbackFB pic.twitter.com/VqeihLrEWB
— Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) September 25, 2021
That’s not a knock on other coaches but there are some limits on the number of folks just standing and watching from the sidelines during games.
He called both early last week.
“I just told ’em I think we’ll be more powerful if you guys come on the sidelines and stand there,” Pittman said Saturday after the win. “It was a special moment for me. I mean, it was Dave Van Horn and Eric Musselman. I mean my god.”
He almost sounded in awe of Van Horn’s regular trips to Omaha and what Musselman has accomplished in a short time at Fayetteville.
Pittman is getting the enthusiasm. The Hogs are getting respect.
The stage gets bigger this week and the spotlight brighter. No. 2 Georgia is next, the game is on the road, ESPN GameDay is going to be in Athens.
Now they have to keep winning.
? A T H E N S
We’re headed to the Classic City for @RazorbackFB vs. @GeorgiaFootball ? pic.twitter.com/aXlh6GamBy
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 26, 2021
‘We own Texas now:’ Grant Morgan, Hogs’ defense owns Lone Star state
Another one of those “super seniors” took the blame for giving Texas A&M some hope in the second half Saturday.
“That was completely my fault,” sixth-year linebacker Grant Morgan said later. “The way we handled it was I came over to the sidelines and said, ‘that was on me … everyone’s doing their job, that’s one play out of 60 that they’ve got so far … we are beating their butts every single time.'”
Morgan is one of a trio of experienced linebackers along with Bumper Pool and Hayden Henry that have taken over the defense along with safety Jalen Catalon.
“We knew we had to take a step forward and say this our game now,” Morgan said. “We had to be able to look at the leaders of this group and say this our game now, we have to win it.”
The Hogs’ defense, behind another masterful game play by Barry Odom, really shut down the Aggies. The numbers didn’t tell a completely accurate story.
A&M finished with 121 yards. Do the math. Take away Spiller’s 67-yard run and it’s just 54 yards Arkansas allowed the No. 7 team in the country.
“They ran just a simple zone read,” Morgan said. “If I see the end crash down through a crease, I have to read out of a gap. They blocked it really well. Me and Eric (Gregory) ended up being in the same gap. I was unblocked and didn’t make the play.”
It didn’t help the Hogs showed A&M quarterback Zach Calzada he wasn’t really ready for prime time yet. Odom was “very familiar” with Calazada because he had tried to recruit him when he was coaching at Missouri.
And the Hogs’ defense didn’t change a whole lot.
“The key was just being us,” Morgan said. “We have a one-play mentality where we’re only going to worry about one play at a time. So we did.”
That means the Hogs weren’t going to dwell on Spiller’s big run that could have changed the entire momentum of the game. It cut the Hogs’ lead to 17-10 with 3:53 left in the third quarter.
In recent past that would be the defining moment when things would start heading downhill for Arkansas in these Southwest Classic matchups in AT&T Stadium.
“They had one good play against us on that long run,” Morgan said. “After that we had to know we have that one-play mentality to be able to clap that off and go to the next one.
“So we did. We went back to our basics. We knew what they were going to do. Our coaches did a really good job of preparing us and they did exactly what we thought.”
It is Arkansas’ first 4-0 start since 2003.
“I don’t know what it means to the program,” Sam Pittman said later.
“Wins like this are why you come back,” Morgan said. He took advantage of the bonus year because of the COVID pandemic and he’s making the most of it. “We saw what this could be.
“There’s not a single ‘super senior’ in that room right now that says ‘I should have left.’ I’m excited to be part of this group that’s changing the momentum of Arkansas football and we’re starting a new path.”
And it also means a little more with two of those four wins over the biggest schools in the Lone Star state.
“We own Texas now, I guess,” Morgan said. “It’s exciting. We went 2-0 on the Texas teams.”
Now they have to do it again with a road trip to Georgia next week.
“Our job is not done,” Morgan said.
Hogs wide receiver Treylon Burks recapping another big play touchdown
For second straight week, Treylon Burks has scored on a long touchdown pass, this one an 80-yarder against A&M.
KJ Jefferson just missed few plays ‘waiting on medicine to kick in’
Arkansas Razorback fans held their breath when quarterback KJ Jefferson was banged up, but he wasn’t concerned later.
Hogs linebacker Grant Morgan glad to finally get win in Southwest Classic
Another “super senior” had to wait several years but finally got to celebrate a win over the Aggies in Arlington.
Sam Pittman after Razorbacks knock off Aggies for first time in nine years
Arkansas’ 20-10 win over Texas A&M ended a long dry spell in Southwest Classic, but he knows Georgia next.
Hogs roll over Texas A&M to end nine-game losing streak
This time Arkansas wanted the win more than Texas A&M and made the plays to do it.
For the first time in a decade, the Razorbacks held the trophy for winning the Southwest Classic in Arlington, Texas, and most of the current team was in junior high at best.
Ranked No. 16 coming into Saturday’s game against the seventh-ranked Aggies, most weren’t giving the Hogs much of a chance.
Except in Arkansas where it was almost unanimous expecting a win. Nobody thought it would happen, though, with KJ Jefferson getting banged up and Treylon Burks getting helped to the locker room with some sort of injury.
By the time both got dinged up, they had made enough plays to put this one in the hands of the defense, which held up.
And an experienced offensive line that handled another test this season.
Arkansas’ offense put up 443 yards on a highly-regarded defense, including 197 on the ground that allowed them to grab control early … and keep it.
The Hogs finally broke a scoreless first quarter, driving 57 yards in eight plays before having to settle for a 3-0 lead with 8:20 left in the first period.
Arkansas’ next score didn’t take as long when they got the ball back from a stingy defense that allowed the Aggies just 272 yards in total offense and only 121 on the ground.
On first down Jefferson fired an 80-yard bomb to Burks, who got some separation from the defensive back, caught the ball and ran away for the score with 2:27 to go in the first period.
It got better for Arkansas.
The Hogs took a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 48-yard scoring pass that was mostly run by running back AJ Green with 13:55 left before halftime.
A&M finally got on the board with 21 seconds left in the half on a 49-yard field goal by Seth Small.
The Hogs’ defense wasn’t giving up much the rest of the way. Oh, Isaiah Spiller broke free for a 67-yard scoring run on a busted call defensively with 7:51 to go in the third that cut the lead to 17-10, but that was the only play the Aggies mustered all day.
Jefferson suffered a leg injury in the third quarter when he was scrambling and knocked out of bounds by an Aggies defender, banging his leg on the turf.
Enter Malik Hornsby, the redshirt freshman that may have been the fastest guy on the field, and after a shaky first series, settled in and kept moving the sticks enough to keep the A&M offense on the sideline.
Burks was injured when a trick play fell apart and he scrambled for a first down up the middle. He didn’t come back.
Jefferson came back when the Hogs’ defense shut down A&M and produced enough first downs to clinch the win and move the Hogs to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2003.
Arkansas will likely take a serious leap in the polls Sunday and set up a huge matchup with Georgia in Athens next week in an 11 a.m. game televised on ESPN.
GAMEDAY LIVE: Hogs down Aggies to end decade of frustration
No. 16 Arkansas faces No. 7 Texas A&M in the 78th edition of the Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.
Both teams are ranked for the first time since 2016, and both teams need a statement win.
Arkansas needs to beat the Aggies to prove they can play with the elites of the conference, and Texas A&M needs a win to show they are for real in 2021.
The game is the first real test for the Aggies after wins over Kent State, Colorado, and New Mexico, but there’s not time to look ahead at Week 6 and the Alabama Crimson Tide, because Arkansas and its defense have to be solved first.
Follow along with allHOGS.com and our live game log below starting at 2:30 p.m. when the action begins:
LATE START: The kickoff has been delayed so CBS could get to the end of Boise State’s 27-3 win over Utah State. No, seriously.
FIRST QUARTER
Aggies win the toss and defer to the second half.
1Q 8:20: Arkansas’ offense comes out running on first possession after a defensive stop of A&M, going 57 yards in eight plays. Cam Little comes on to kick a 46-yarder. Hogs 3, Aggies 0
1Q 2:27: KJ Jefferson finds Treylon Burks down the right sideline and delivers a perfect strike for an 85-yard scoring play. Hogs 10, Aggies 0
END SECOND QUARTER: Warren Thompson on a double pass hits Burks down the left sideline for a 27-yard kick as the quarter ends and the Hogs will start the second period with all the momentum.
2Q 13:37: Jefferson finds AJ Green in the left flat and he takes advantage of A&M’s lack of interest in tackling and scampers 48 yards for a score and it’s getting to be a big lead. Hogs 17, Aggies 0
2Q :21: Aggies finally get on board just before halftime on a 49-yard field goal by Seth Small after the Hogs couldn’t convert a fourth-down play. Hogs 17, Aggies 3
3Q 7:51: Texas A&M finally gets on the board when running back Isaiah Spiller breaks free up the middle for a 75-yard scoring run where he simply got to the second level and took off. Nobody could catch him. Hogs 17, Aggies 10
4Q 8:39: After a drive that got to the 1 before a penalty and Treylon Burks taken off the field with an apparent injury, the Hogs settle for a 24-yard field goal from Cam Little and it’s another close one at AT&T Stadium. Hogs 20, Aggies 10
How to watch-listen to Razorbacks-Aggies from anywhere
No. 16 Arkansas goes into AT&T Stadium on Saturday with a perfect 3-0 record and their biggest test of the young season against No. 7 Texas A&M.
The Hogs’ game against Texas two weeks was an electric atmosphere because it was the Longhorns. This week is the most important game in years.
It’s easily the biggest game for second-year coach Sam Pittman, who struggled in 2020, but this is a different year.
One key distinction between 2020 and 2021 has been quarterback KJ Jefferson, who has added a different dimension to the Arkansas offense with his ability to use both his arm and his legs in the offense.
The Razorbacks also field a much-improved defense, led by dynamic safety Jalen Catalon, and one of the best linebacker groups in the country.
Arkansas leads the all-time series between the two teams by a 41-33-3 mark. But the Aggies have had the edge in the series as of late, winning the last nine matchups dating back to 2012.
In addition to sticking with allHOGS.com, here’s how to watch and listen to the Texas A&M Aggies and Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.
GAME INFORMATION
No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies vs. No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks
Current Records: Texas A&M (3-0) vs. Arkansas (3-0)
Date/Time: Saturday, Sept. 25 at 2:30 PM
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
TV/Streaming: CBS, STREAMING
Radio: HitThatLine.com, ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and central Arkansas, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home, SIRIUS 136/XM 191
Sportsbook Info (via SI Sportsbook)
Moneyline: Texas A&M: (-400), Arkansas: (+175)
Spread: Texas A&M: -4.5 (-110), Arkansas: +4.5 (-105)
Total: 47.5 – Over: (-110), Under: (-105)
