Hogs in Giving Mood, Gift Wrap Momentum in Loss to Aggies

Cam Little gets revenge game, but Razorbacks fall apart late in the second half

Author:
Daniel Shi
Publish date:
Sep 30, 2023 3:47 PM EDT

In this story:

ARLINGTON — Arkansas seemed to be in the giving spirit in an ugly 34-22 loss even though Thanksgiving is still nearly two months away Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in the annual Southwest Classic. The Hogs repeatedly handed the momentum back to the Aggies just when it looked like they would make a run at a comeback. After the defense forced their first three-and-out of the day in the second half, quarterback KJ Jefferson returned favor of allowing a defensive touchdown after getting a pick-six courtesy of Lorando "Snaxx" Johnson. Jefferson's pass was picked off by linebacker Chris Russell Jr. Russell Jr. returned the ball 16 yards to regain the two possession buffer.

"We got whipped," coach Sam Pittman said. "Offensively especially. But I don't think we didn't fight, you know what I mean? And so, when you lose the fight is when you're done. I don't feel that way at all really, to be honest with you."

The entire game was a struggle for Jefferson and the entire offense as the team continues to search for rhythm under the Dan Enos offense. Whatever strides the offensive line made during the LSU was immediately erased with another lackluster performance. Jefferson was sacked seven times, a record during his tenure as the starter. The Arkansas offense was also held to under 30 yards of offense each of the final three quarters, finishing the day with a season-low 174 yards.

"Pretty frustrating," Jefferson said. "It starts with communication up front, with everybody knowing what's going on, who they're pointing to."

If anyone could build a time machine it would be Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. It's almost like the Hogs took that time machine and traveled back in time to make the same mistakes of the past two weeks in the entire game.

In a 10-6 game on a fourth-and-1 at their own 40-yard line late in the second quarter, Pittman decided to keep the offense on the field. Jefferson lined up in shotgun, just like he did in week 3 against BYU instead of putting Jefferson under center. He handed the ball off to running back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, only to watch him get tackled behind the line of scrimmage.

"Of course I'm comfortable with taking the snap under center," Jefferson said. "We work it. We practice it all week. So I'm comfortable under center. As far as the fourth and short, we've got to execute. We know it's 1 yard. We've got to get, a game of inches. We know we've got to come away with those. In those situations, we've got to be able to strain and be tough and be willing to get the first down."

The mistake proved costly as Texas A&M quarterback Max Johnson punished the Hogs' and led an eight-play drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown pass to offensive lineman Earnest Crownover with 13 seconds left in the half to stretch the lead to 17-6.

For the fifth game in a row, the Hogs started well. Arkansas' opening drive was stop-start. It featured four negative plays from the Aggie defense and three third-and-long conversions by Jefferson and the offense, including a third-and-7 scramble from Jefferson, but ultimately a third-and-20 proved to be too much. The drive stalled after 15 plays and over 8 minutes off the clock, resulting in a Cam Little 52-yard field goal. Little's kick was the longest in Southwest Classic history at AT&T and eliminated any early demons from missing last year's go-ahead kick.

A&M quickly responded under newly minted starting quarterback Johnson, who went 5-for-5 to five different receivers on the opening drive including a 32-yard strike to receiver Evan Stewart in the right corner of the end zone for a 7-3 lead.

Sanders came back after missing three games with a leg injury and didn't wait long to make his presence felt. On another third-and-long situation, Sanders turned a screen pass into a 38-yard pickup and broke four tackles along the way. Arkansas once again went on a 10+ play drive, but the red zone struggles continued, as the drive stalled at the 5-yard line. Cam Little knocked in his second field goal in as many drives, a 25-yarder to cut the lead to 7-6.

The Razorbacks' defense's struggles continued as A&M moved the ball down the field with relative ease, but with Stewart leaving the game temporarily due to injury, fellow receiver Jahdae Walker was unable to reel in back-to-back targets on second and third down resulting in a Randy Bond 42-yard field goal and reestablishing a four-point Aggie advantage.

Wide receiver and kick returner Isaiah Sategna nearly broke off another house call down the sideline, if it wasn't for the kicker being in the way just enough to keep Sategna from hurdling over him. The Arkansas offense produced the first three-and-out of the day and handed the ball right back to the Aggies.

In some deja vu, it was A&M's turn to feel the wrath of the AT&T Stadium upright, as the Aggies came away empty-handed after driving into Arkansas territory again. Bond's 49-yard field goal clanked off the left upright.

Arkansas's offense sputtered into the half without getting a first down on the final two drives. To make matters worse, the Aggies will get the ball out of the break with a chance to double up.

As it so often does in the Southwest Classic, it only takes one play to flip the whole game on its head. After finishing the miserable end to the first half, it took but one play for Snaxx Johnson to pick off Max Johnson for a little Johnson-on-Johnson violence. Snaxx Johnson returned the ball 20 yards for Arkansas' third defensive touchdown of the year.

If there was any question if Johnson's confidence was shattered, it was quickly eradicated as he scrambled down the sideline for 32 yards on a quarterback keeper resulting in another A&M field goal stretching the lead back to 20-13.

Arkansas's season-long battle with short-yardage situations continued, Arkansas failed to convert both second-and-1 followed by third-and-1, leading to a punt.

The defense who had struggled throughout the previous week, continued to answer the bell to swing the momentum back in the Razorbacks' favor. This time linebacker Jordan Crook popped the ball out as Johnson was carrying the ball and fellow linebacker Brad Spence fell on the ball, giving Jefferson and the offense a short field. Receiver Andrew Armstrong dropped what looked to be a surefire touchdown, instead, it led to fourth-and-7 and yet another Little field goal, this time a 50-yarder to make it 20-16. After a nightmarish game last year, Little was the lone bright spot in a disaster of a game with all four field goal attempts made, including two of at least 50 yards.

"We have to play better in the first half," safety Hudson Clark said. "He (Max Johnson) came out firing on all cylinders, him and all the receivers. So just try to play the first half like we played the second half."

After Jefferson threw the costly pick-six, Arkansas continued their sloppy play, when Texas A&M punted, Sategna made his first error on special teams, fumbling the ball on the return but Arkansas mercifully recovered the ball at the end of a wild scrum.

As the game progressed, the Arkansas offense began to completely fall apart, still down 11 after Bond's second missed field goal of the day, the Hogs could only muster three consecutive negative plays to turn first-and-10 to fourth-and-25. The coup de grâce was applied when Smith returned the punt 82 yards to put the game out of reach at 34-16 with just 7:40 left in the game.

Jefferson threw a 48-yard pass to Armstrong late in the fourth quarter, but it did little but pad Jefferson's stats and make the score more respectable, 34-22.

"We've got a team of workers," defensive lineman Landon Jackson. "Everybody is ready to get back to work on Monday. I've always been taught not to look in the past. Once the game is over, it's over. It sucks you lost. But you can't get down about one loss and it turns into losses the rest of the season."

Arkansas now falls to 2-3 and is below .500 for the first time since the 2020 season and now turn their attention to Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. The game can be streamed on SEC Network and fuboTV .