Mandatory Credit: Photo by Brandon Wade/AP/Shutterstock (13417994as) Texas A&M celebrates a 23-21 win over Arkansas after an NCAA college football game, in Arlington, Texas Arkansas Texas A M Football, Arlington, United States – 24 Sep 2022
A lucky bounce? 5 observations from No. 23 Texas A&M’s 23-21 win over No. 10 Arkansas
The Texas A&M Aggies won their second straight game against a ranked opponent with a 23-21 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Here are five thoughts on the Texas A&M win:
- All Aboard the Achane
Jimbo Fisher and his offensive game plan FINALLY started to take advantage of the explosive playmaking ability of running back Devon Achane. The RB rushed 19 times for 159 yards and a touchdown. The Achane got rolling early, and never slowed down.
- They are who we thought they were
“They’ve only played at home”, “They haven’t seen a true test”.. The Aggie defense heard all the clatter, strapped up, and came to play.
Arkansas entered their matchup with A&M with a top tier rushing attack. The Aggies held Razorback running back Raheim Sanders to 68 yards on 17 carries.
Texas A&M also came up with a huge takeaway in the second quarter, taking a fumble recovery all the way to the end zone. A welcomed sight for what has been a struggling Aggie offense.
- Playmaker WR Ainias Smith Injured
Senior WR Ainias Smith left Saturday’s game on crutches with a right ankle injury. Smith is not only a key playmaker for the A&M offense, but a clear leader in the locker room. The emotions on the A&M sideline were evident as the WR was helped off the field. If it’s the worst case scenario for Smith, he will be sorely missed moving forward in 2022.
- Flashes from the freshman
Freshman WR Evan Stewart came into this season with high expectations as a five-star recruit out of Frisco, Texas. Stewart, catching passes from his second quarterback of the season, found the end zone for a score in the second quarter on a 10-yard pass from QB Max Johnson.
- Bell rings, Aggies answer
Texas A&M was on the wrong end of arguably the upset of the year three weeks ago when Appalachian State marched into Kyle Field and beat the Aggies 17-14.
Since that loss?
A&M has beaten ranked opponents in consecutive weeks (#13 Miami and #10 Arkansas). What felt like a lost season for the Aggies only three weeks ago is now nothing more than a nightmare of a memory for A&M.
The road will not be easy, the SEC West never is.. But it’s somehow all still available and for the taking for Jimbo and the Texas A&M Aggies.
2 Comments
Very lucky. Offense to come out with a quicker tempo to get in rhythm sooner
A/M got very lucky.
They did capitalize on several stupid mistakes by the Hogs but In NO WAY did Tamu look good.
If the Hogs had centered the ball prior to the fairly short FG at the end it’s likely that without their best WR Tamu would have lost by 1.
But as I said, Ark made several stupid mistakes and the Aggies squeaked by.
Arkansas secondary is a major weakness and Tamu QB Johnson played well and scrambled for a few key 1st downs.
The Ark QB got careless again and instead of it being 21-7 it was 14-13.