Texas A&M's defense halts the Razorbacks on third down
We've got a massive battle of third-down success rates in this matchup. Arkansas has the third-best third down conversion rate in the country, hitting at 57.1 percent, while Texas A&M owns the nation's best third-down defense (20.8 percent allowed) and has held its last two opponents to a combined 2-for-20 showing.
The Aggies have been able to hold teams to a ton of third-and-long attempts due to the improvement of its run defense, holding teams to an average of 67.7 yards over the last three weeks. While Arkansas does have a strong ground game — averaging 6.15 yards per carry — so did Florida, Mississippi State and Auburn before facing the Aggies.
Mike Elko's group should be able to bottle up this Razorback ground game, put them in third-and-long situations unfamiliar to this offense, and keep them from moving the chains in what will be one of the more pivotal marks in deciding the outcome of this game.
The Aggies take their recent penalty success on the road
One of the biggest revelations from last weekend's win over the Gators was that Texas A&M committed just three penalties on the day — the fewest of the Mike Elko era. While it's a trend in the right direction, trends don't become trends until they're repeated. That makes this weekend's matchup a pivotal turning point for the Aggies.
Texas A&M has been dreadful committing penalties in many games this year, and last time they went on the road it was pretty bad — they committed a whopping 13. Arkansas opponents are committing five penalties a game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium this season, a number the Aggies will certainly take to the bank this weekend.
A lot of talk surrounding this football team centered on consistent development in each area of weakness — and penalties are one of the remaining few. So let's call for another game below five penalties, and feel even better about this team's growth from where it was just a few weeks back.