Razorbacks manage to keep it close against Texas A&M but still can't get win

Hogs dangerously close to not having enough chances to keep slim hopes of a bowl game alive after yet another close loss to Aggies

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green is brought down by Texas A&M defenders in game at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Ted McClenning-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — At one point in the first half what looked like a Texas A&M blowout win over Arkansas into a nailbiter that went down to the final two minutes.

The No. 4 Aggies' 45-42 (7-0, 3-0 in SEC) simply came down to needing to recover an onsides kick with nine seconds left over an Arkansas team (2-5, 0-3) that wasn't giving up, but simply didn't have enough horses or depth to pull off a win.

It seems everything in the SEC these days goes like that, but the Razorbacks hung in, thanks to Taylen Green keeping things alive for a little longer when it looked like the game was over.

You can also throw in Bobby Petrino's ability to not chase points until it mattered.

Green means go pic.twitter.com/qLFLQ2jI2k

— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 19, 2025

In the end, the Hogs getting down by two scores early in the game probably dug a hole deep enough that even Green's heroics couldn't dig them out of it. Arkansas kept trying, though, but the Aggies' defense made one stop in the fourth quarter.

And Marcel Reed, who put up a whopping game of his own making one key run or pass after another, made the Hogs pay for that in the final period. A sack of Green for an 18-yard loss by Dalton Brooks started the dirt piling in on Arkansas' deep hole.

Just like that, the Hogs have yet another loss to the Aggies, who have won all but one time since they started playing SEC games in 2012.

For folks that kept hollering as early as the first half why the Razorbacks wouldn't go for a two-point conversion, Petrino probably knows you don't start chasing points.

He knows you don't start doing that until the fourth quarter or you may end up chasing more points than you could have gotten by taking the single digit.

Petrino waited until the Hogs' first score in the final period, which was a little 4-yard out pattern to tight end Jaden Platt, who laid out for the score. He delivered with a little shuttle pass to another tight end, Rohan Jones to cut an 11-point Texas A&M lead to just a field goal.

+ 2⃣ pic.twitter.com/wPrEq4buJm

— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) October 19, 2025

It took awhile to get the game going. Thunderstorms made their way across Northwest Arkansas and delayed the start for two hours, but it didn't seem to bother either team that much.

Then a track meet broke out. Both offenses dominated until the Aggies simply wore the Hogs' defenders out by the fourth quarter. A&M's defense found a burst of energy late and managed to harass Green enough to simply make Arkansas have to use too much clock.

Fans will think about what might have been in this one. In the end, though, they are a team that simply doesn't have the same level of talent as the top tier teams in the league.

That shows up in a lot of these close games. It probably will down the rest of the schedule that now makes chances of a bowl game look rather dim and the margin for error is almost gone.

They can only lose one more game in the final five to keep slim hopes alive.

Most think the best chance to avoid that is with home games coming up against Auburn and Mississippi State before a brutal stretch of games that include going on the road to LSU and Texas that will make it tough.