The numbers that tell the tale of yet another win over the Hogs
It was at times ugly, but Texas A&M managed to close out the series at AT&T Stadium in style, winning their 12th game in the past 13 meetings with Arkansas, 21-17. Let’s take a look at some telling stats from Saturday’s game.
Salient Stats
- 2: Texas A&M’s conference-leading SEC win total. It may be a technicality, but the Ags are currently tops in the conference as the only 2-0 team (seven of the league’s 16 teams have only played one conference game). The Aggies aren’t a perfect team, but just keep winning, and good things can happen.
- +3: Turnover margin. If anything told the tale of this game, it’s this. The defense set up A&M’s second score with a fumble recovery, ended an Arkansas drive before halftime with an interception and ended the game with a strip sack on Arkansas’ final drive. Meanwhile the A&M offense, despite their struggles, played turnover-free football yet again, and pinned Arkansas deep in their own territory all night long. Making an up and down Hog offense go the length of the field played a big role in A&M pulling this one out.
- 10: Tackles for loss by the A&M defense, including three sacks. Negative plays killed several drives for the Hogs, and in a close game, each one proved essential. The Aggies seemed to be in the Arkansas backfield all night long, containing the SEC’s leading rush Jaquinden Jackson and rattling QB Talen Green. This was perhaps the best performance we’ve seen from A&M’s front four all season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Let’s hope there’s a lot more of that to come.
- 59.4: Marcel Reed’s QB rating. For the second straight game, the redshirt freshman looked like, well, a redshirt freshman. Reed has done enough to put the Aggies at 3-0 in his starts, which is all you can ask of a backup QB; but he’s also left enough meet on the bone that any thought of him taking the starting job from Conner Weigman while Weigman was out with injury is likely put to rest for now. It’s unclear when Weigman will be back, but when he is, expect him to resume QB duties.
- 109: Receiving yards for Noah Thomas. While the Aggie passing game left a lot to be desired on Saturday, Thomas looked like the No. 1 option we hoped he could be for the first time this season. He started things off with a 58-yard catch and run touchdown, and got open for several more downfield throws throughout the game. Let’s hope he can build on that performance.
- 117: Yards for Le’Veon Moss, most of which came on the final three drives of the game to take the lead and put the game away. Moss has averaged 106 yards per game on less than 16 carries per game over the past three matchups (averaging nearly 6.8 yards per carry). His physical running has extended drives and put games away for the Ags multiple times in that span. What’s a bit shocking is that in those three games, Moss does not have a touchdown. LET’S GET THIS MAN IN THE ENDZONE!
- 349: How many miles to the northeast next year’s A&M/Arkansas game will be played. I for one cannot wait for this to return to home stadiums (even if we have to travel to Arkansas next season).
The Arkansas win sets up a ranked-vs-ranked showdown with Mizzou next Saturday at Kyle Field, with the winner maintaining a share of first place in the SEC. #BTHOmizzou!