Arkansas vs. Texas A&M – Game Recap – September 24, 2022 – ESPN

ARLINGTON, Texas — — Demani Richardson received the ball similar to he needed, and the defensive again sprinted the ultimate 82 yards down the sideline on a wild fumble return landing for No. 23 Texas A&M.

“Huge momentum play. That helped us rather a lot,” Aggies working again Devon Acane stated.

Richardson had the massive return whereas Acane ran for 159 yards and a landing as Texas A&M scored 23 consecutive factors after falling behind early, finally beating the Tenth-ranked Razorbacks 23-21 on Saturday night time.

KJ Jefferson misplaced the ball when inexplicably making an attempt to leap over the blocking linemen on a first-down play from 3 when Arkansas had an opportunity for a 21-7 lead late within the first half. The Arkansas quarterback as an alternative ended up going straight up and the ball was knocked out of his palms by linebacker Chris Russell.

“We will’t do this on first down. If it was fourth down, that’s a unique story. Sadly, it simply received popped out,” Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman stated. “He needed to attain, and that occurred.”

Tyreek Chappell picked the ball out of the air, however he discovered himself within the standing grasp of working again Raheim Sanders close to the 20, he handed the ball to Richardson — who was calling for the ball, and later stated he would have taken it had it not been handed to him.

“I do not know if it saved us, nevertheless it made it rather a lot simpler to win,” Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher stated.

The Razorbacks (3-1, 1-1 SEC) nonetheless had an opportunity to take the lead with 1:30 left within the recreation, however Cam Little’s 42-yard discipline objective try from the left hashmark hit close to the highest of the correct upright — and fluttered to the bottom in the long run zone no good. That drive got here proper after the Aggies had missed an extended discipline objective try.

Texas A&M (3-1, 1-0) has back-to-back wins over ranked groups since that embarrassing 17-14 residence loss to Appalachian State two weeks in the past. The convention opener for the Aggies got here per week after a 17-9 win over then-No. 13 Miami, which then dropped 12 spots and now will probably be unranked after a 45-31 loss at residence towards Center Tennessee State earlier Saturday.

“We’re by far not near the place we want. We now have to repair some self-inflicted wounds, received to scrub issues up,” Fisher stated. “However we beat two good soccer groups not enjoying very effectively, not on the prime of our recreation, however enjoying effectively at occasions and nonetheless competing and making performs after we needed to, and it is very encouraging.”

Arkansas led 14-0 after TD passes by Jefferson on consecutive drives within the first quarter. He first threw a display screen that Ketron Jackson was a 32-yard rating earlier than discovering Warren Thompson large open behind the secondary for a 56-yarder.

However after the Razorbacks responded to Max Johnson’s 10-yard TD cross to Evan Stewart by driving 72 yards in 11 performs to the three, Jefferson had the massive turnover.

“That’s a tricky one. Give A&M all of the credit score on the earth, they fought again from 14 down,” Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman stated. “That they had a few large performs … and definitely a giant fumble restoration.”

Although the Aggies didn’t convert the tying further level after the return, they did go forward to remain on Achane’s 9-yard TD that capped the opening drive of the second half for a 20-14 lead.

THE QBs

Johnson, the LSU switch, was 11-of-21 passing for 151 yards in his second A&M begin. Jefferson accomplished 12 of 19 passes for 171 yards and ran 18 occasions for 105 yards. Jefferson had a 6-yard scoring run with 10 minutes left within the recreation.

THE TAKEAWAY

Texas A&M: The Aggies recovered from their sluggish begin offensively, once they went 3-and-out on their first 4 drives. They trailed 14-0 earlier than getting their preliminary first down on a 63-yard run by Achane halfway by way of the second quarter.

Arkansas: The Razorbacks missed an opportunity to have consecutive 4-0 begins for the primary time since 1988-89, which was nonetheless a few seasons earlier than becoming a member of the SEC. The Hogs have not received their first two SEC video games since 2006. They received to 4-0 total final 12 months with a win over the Aggies, who had received 9 in a row within the collection earlier than that.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Aggies will regain a number of of the spots they’ve misplaced since being sixth within the preseason and thru the primary week, however they’ll nonetheless be fairly a manner from being again within the prime 10. Arkansas will definitely slip.

IN THE HOUSE

The twelfth collection assembly on the residence stadium of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys was Texas A&M’s “residence” recreation. The introduced attendance was 63,580 — or virtually 40,000 lower than capability at Kyle Subject in School Station. That was increased than the gang of 57,992 for final 12 months’s Southwest Traditional.

UP NEXT

Arkansas is at residence to play No. 2 Alabama subsequent Saturday.

Texas A&M travels to Mississippi State subsequent Saturday for the second of 4 consecutive video games away from Kyle Subject.

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