Past struggles re-emerge up front in Arkansas football's loss to Texas A&M
ARLINGTON, Texas — The horrors of Arkansas football's 2023 offense reappeared Saturday inside the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.
The Razorbacks (3-2, 1-1 SEC) fell to No. 24 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) 21-17 in the final edition of the Southwest Classic, and much of the blame will fall upon the Hogs' offensive line.
Head coach Sam Pittman revamped the unit this offseason, and Arkansas experienced early-season success, but the wheels wobbled and at times fell off in this weekend's loss.
"We never could get anything consistently going offensively," Pittman said. "Couldn't protect, again. Kind of the same old story this week."
The Razorbacks averaged just 3.7 yards per carry and racked up a season-low 100 yards on the ground. The Aggies ended up with three sacks, but quarterback Taylen Green was running for his life all afternoon. He also had his worst day as a ball carrier with 12 yards on 12 rushes.
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The Aggies' sealed the win with a Nic Scourton strip-sack late in the fourth quarter as Arkansas was trying to produce a game-winning touchdown drive. Jaydon Hill recovered the fumble, and after one Texas A&M first down, the Aggies lined up in victory formation.
The game's most pivotal play came much earlier, but it also involved a Texas A&M defensive lineman getting into the backfield.
On first-and-10 from its own 9-yard line, Arkansas attempted a read-option, but Texas A&M's Shemar Stewart blew up the play. Stewart shot across the line of scrimmage unblocked, and he managed to hit both Green and Ja'Quinden Jackson. Green elected to keep the ball, but the hit forced another fumble that the Aggies recovered.
Two plays later, Texas A&M scored on a 5-yard touchdown run from quarterback Marcel Reed. Those seven points proved to be the difference.
"I think we were able to at least force them the way we wanted to force them," Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko said. "Force them to people in coverage. Force them to people that were spying them, and at least be able to kind of corral (Green). I don't think he got going with his feet at all, which was a huge focus in the game for us."
Arkansas running back Ja'Quinden Jackson had just 10 carries for 37 yards. The running game's early struggles forced Arkansas out of its original game plan and into a more pass-heavy attack, but that didn't produce much success, either.
Green finished the game 23 for 41 with 279 yards passing. Arkansas scored on a 75-yard throw to Isaac TeSlaa on the game's third play. The Hogs scored just 10 more points across the final 58 minutes.
Now, it's back to the drawing board, but Saturday certainly amplifies the pressure on Pittman and the offensive line to fix the ongoing issues. The challenge doesn't get any easier. Arkansas will host No. 6 Tennessee next week, and the Volunteers have one of the best defensive lines in the country behind defensive end James Pearce Jr.
Judging what's wrong with the unit is tough, but it's clear the coaches need to find some sort of adjustments to cope as the SEC slate hits high gear.
"I think (Green's) in a tough situation, I do," Pittman said. "But, it’s our job to try to find out how we can score points and make yards with him. It’s frustrating because I didn’t feel like it was any better than it was a week ago."