Arkansas Razorback Football: The history with Texas A&M Football
By Justin Lee
The Arkansas Razorbacks play Texas A&M on Halloween weekend, and fans couldn’t be more excited.
Arkansas Razorback fans could not be ore excited about this weekends matchup with the Texas A&M Aggies. The hogs have always played the Aggies close, but have not beaten them since 2011.
History
This is a rivalry that goes back as far as 1903 when they played their first game against each other. Texas A&M won the first game with a low score of six to zero.
In 2009, The rivalry was dubbed the name, “The Southwest Classic.”This is when the rivalry really started to get noticed, as it was moved to neutral site in Arlington, Texas at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Arkansas won that game, and the next two, of the series.
In 2012, the game was moved to College Station, which is where the Aggies play their home games. Many people thought that gave them an unfair advantage in the rivalry with the home fans. Well, Texas A&M certainly had some sort of advantage as they routed Arkansas 58-10.
Next year in 2013, the game was moved to Fayetteville. Hog fans were certainly okay with the move, as it brought the rivalry back to the Natural state, where fans can call their hogs. However, it wouldnt mater. A&M would bet arkansas again 45-33.
The Last few years of Arkansas Football have been rough. However, the Razorbacks have played the Aggies close the last few times. Arkansas has not won a game in this rivalry since 2011, but they have not gotten beat too badly.
2014 was a game for the ages, as it went into overtime at AT&T stadium. The hogs lost, with a final of 35-28. That year A&M was ranked sixth when they met Arkansas, and the hogs nearly upset them.
Another overtime thriller in 2015, lead to yet another loss. The Razorbacks scored 21 against the number 14 ranked team in the nation. In 2016 however, the close games would come to a pause, as the Aggie’s beat the hogs by 21.
The next three years would go kind of the same. As the Chad Morris era started in 2018, and ended shortly after in 2019, the hogs would lose close in all three games. However, in 2019 hog fans may remember that was Interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr’s first game coaching.
The Arkansas Razorbacks lead the Aggies in wins against each other all time at 41-32-3. So wether they have had the Razorbacks number the last few years may not matter.
This Saturday
The Razorbacks have a good chance at ending the losing streak this Saturday. The Hogs have an electric defenses as we have seen so far, and an offense that has had time to find a rhythm over the bye week.
So what do the hogs need to do to win? It’s pretty simple actually. Many people are being put on to the defense here in Fayetteville. They force turnovers and they do it well. With seven forced turnovers against an electric Ole Miss offense, the hogs held them to just 21 points. Ole Miss was averaging 40 on the season prior to the game.
Arkansas will also have to come out with an aggressive offense. They will need to score quick because Texas A&M loves to run the ball with Isiah Spiller. They take up a lot of the time of possession in their games they have played this season. Running back Isiah Spiller has shown NFL talent this year and they are not afraid to use him. This Razorback rush defense needs to step up if they want a chance to end this streak. While the defense played great, they allowed Ole Miss to get 242 yards on the ground. That won’t cut it against Texas A&M. I do believe we will see the Hogs pull out a win on Halloween this year.
Moral of the story is, the hogs always show up against A&M. Razorback fans hate them, and Aggies fans hate the hogs. It’s the beauty of college football.
