Texas A&M fans may still feel their hearts pounding after the exciting victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks. With all the talk of the inclement weather coming into the game, and a two-hour delay indeed manifesting, I and many others thought this would be a slog of a game, and it turned out to be anything but.
So what did we learn from this game, and what was a mirage? Let's look at our takeaways from this big win over the Hogs.
Texas A&M vs Arkansas takeaways: Defense delivered when they needed to
It was not a good day for the Texas A&M defense overall, as Mike Elko indicated in his presser— of course, any Aggie fan who looked at the box score could have understood that much. This Arkansas offense is probably the best one the Aggies will face all year, but this was still not a performance up to the standard of what the Ags have done so far this year.
Even so, the Aggie defense delivered in some key moments. Down the stretch, with things beginning to get uncomfortable for A&M fans (despite a ten-point lead), the defensive line finally got home after missing on Taylen Green all day. Their pressure forced a punt for the Aggies to wrest complete control back in the game and put the victory on ice.
It's also worth noting that the Aggies held Arkansas to only 4-10 on third down, which was far below their average conversion rate of about 56% coming into the game. That also shows just how clutch this defense was in the big moments— when it came time to get the Hogs off of the field, the Aggie defense delivered more times than not.
Arkansas scored a late, garbage-time touchdown with ten seconds to go, but things were all but decided at that point. This defense cannot have another performance like this— but the good news is they will not be facing another offense this good all year.