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Texas A&M vs. Arkansas: Full highlights, final score and more

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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For the second straight season, Texas A&M stormed back in the fourth quarter, forced overtime, and beat Arkansas with a big defensive stop on fourth down.

In honor of the late, great Yogi Berra: it’s Déjà vu all over again.

After storming back to tie the game in regulation, Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen found freshman wide receiver Christian Kirk in the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown that gave the Aggies a 28-21 lead. And, before the Razorbacks could run their first play of the extra, offensive lineman Dan Skipper was singled for a false start penalty – the 11th Arkansas penalty of the game for 93 yards.

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The Razorbacks picked up 11 yards on their next three plays, but on 4th-and-4, Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen’s pass was swatted away by Aggies defensive back De’Vante Harris and Texas A&M picked up an important SEC West victory to move to 1-0 in conference play.

Two years in a row now the Aggies have stormed back from a fourth quarter deficit to tie the game and force overtime, then make a big defensive play on fourth down to seal the victory.

The Aggies nearly completed the comeback in regulation. With the game tied and Arkansas driving, Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett beat the Arkansas left tackle Denver Kirkland and sacked Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen. Allen fumbled, and the Aggies recovered with 1:04 left to play in the fourth quarter.

After a roughing the passer penalty moved the ball into the red zone, Texas A&M kicker Taylor Bertolet lined up for a 38-yard field goal, but couldn’t convert, and for the second consecutive season, the Southwest Classic went to overtime.

Entering the game 1-2 overall, but with a full slate of conference games ahead of them, Arkansas had plenty of chances to put the Aggies away and pick up a pivotal league victory. As Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema likes to do, Arkansas dominated time of possession in the first half, and held A&M to just 16 total plays in the first half.

However, the Hogs continually shot themselves in the foot with penalties. Leading 21-13 with fewer than five minutes left on the clock, Arkansas lined up for a fourth down play, needing three yards to convert from the A&M 35-yard line. But the Razorbacks lost five yards on a fake start penalty and were forced to punt.

Texas A&M got the football back with 4:11 left. After a quick first down, Allen hooked up with Josh Reynolds on a 63-yard pass play to give the Aggies a first-and-goal opportunity. Allen nearly tossed a TD to Reynolds on first down, but the pass fell incomplete. Two plays later, Allen handed off to Tra Carson, who barreled into the end zone on a counter play for a two-yard touchdown.

Now trailing 21-19, the Aggies lined up for the two-point conversion and Allen hit Reynolds on a beautiful fade pass to tie the game with 2:50 left.

Allen finished 21-for-28 passing for 358 yards and two touchdowns – both to Kirk. The freshman led the Aggies with 173 yards and eight receptions, and Reynolds added 106 receiving yards on three catches.

Interestingly, Kirk’s kickoff blunder forced A&M to go 97 yards on their first touchdown drive, but the freshman made up for his mistake with his explosive playmaking ability, including a 44-yard touchdown to tie the game.

Arkansas looked like a team that didn’t know its own offensive identity in back-to-back upset losses against Toledo and Texas Tech. The ground-and-pound, run-the-clock Razorbacks attempted 94 passes over the first three games of the season and came in to Saturday’s SEC opener against Texas A&M averaging 305.3 yards per game. Allen completed 20-of-25 pass attempts for 225 yards Saturday, but the Hogs were much more balanced offensively and actually looked like they had found their missing identity.

With 232 rushing yards on 42 carries, Arkansas looked much more like the team we saw at the end of the 2014 season that beat LSU, Ole Miss and Texas and entered 2015 as a contender in the SEC West. But with a third straight loss overall, the Razorbacks are right back where they started in 2014: 0-1 in the SEC.

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