Texas A&M is heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas this weekend for the first time since 2013, when Johnny Manziel led the Aggies to a high-scoring victory over John L Smith's Razorbacks. With the exception of the COVID year, every single game since then has been held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas— but this game is finally back on campus.
They will meet an Arkansas program that is in the midst of flux, as former head coach, and more recently a former offensive coordinator, Bobby Petrino is back in the head man's chai after Sam Pittman was fired. There's not much more of a pendulum swing as far as personality goes: Pittman was widely considered as one of the few truly good guys in coaching, while Petrino was famously said by one of his former players to "hate everybody."
That bent towards antipathy will be well-reflected in the crowd's attitude this weekend, as there is maybe no program that has given another more heartburn than the Aggies have the Razorbacks over the past dozen years. Nearly every game that A&M has played against Arkansas has seen a chance for the Hogs to win, but every single time apart from 2021— whether due to talent or a crazy bounce of the ball— the Aggies have won.
Arkansas will rely on good, clean hate to try to upset Texas A&M this Saturday
Getting this game in Fayetteville, however, will give Hog fans a little more confidence that they can pull the upset off this time. After all, this is an offense that has looked quite potent at times this year, with QB Taylen Green and WR O'Mega Blake as the biggest highlights.
Of course, this team also lost at home 56-13 to Notre Dame a few weeks ago— a squad that Texas A&M beat in South Bend two weeks prior. For that reason, it's tough to see a real path for Arkansas to emerge as the victor in this one, even if they do end up making it a bit closer than many Aggie fans would want.
This is also the Aggies' first road game since that point, which is a relevant detail to keep in mind— though the Ags did handle the Notre Dame crowd with very little problem. If the Hogs can make some noise early, though, then A&M had better be ready to answer— just like they did up in South Bend.
Just as we saw with Florida, though, the Aggies can sometimes let a team look stellar in the early going before putting them in a vice. Given that this is the best defense that Arkansas has seen all year, even if they do score early, I don't see them scoring often.
If this Texas A&M team is emotionally ready for this environment and game, then I think they emerge as a convincing victor. If they get overwhelmed by the moment— something I find unlikely, given that they handled Notre Dame with such poise— then things could get pretty uncomfortable, pretty quickly.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the fact that, by any meaningful metric, the Arkansas defense is the worst in the conference. Especially against the run, the Hogs are positively porous, allowing a whopping 4.82 yards per carry and nearly 200 yards per game on the ground. That's a balm to soothe the loss of Le'Veon Moss, and we should see Rueben Owens and company in for a big game as a consequence.
I've got the Aggies winning this one pretty convincingly. Give me Texas A&M triumphing 41-16 over Arkansas— it will be close in the first quarter before Texas A&M slowly begins to shut the door on Petrino and company. With some inclement weather currently projected, this should be a pretty empty stadium by the time the fourth quarter arrives.