ARLINGTON, Texas — The University of Arkansas special teams went 1 for 2 on fakes involving Devin Bale in Saturday’s 21-17 loss to No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday at AT&T Stadium.
In the first quarter Bale — who punts, kicks off and holds on field goal and extra point attempts — rushed for a first down on fourth-and-15 from the Arkansas 46 when he gained 25 yards on a fake punt.
Bale’s run set up a touchdown that put the Razorbacks ahead 14-7.
After Bale fielded the ball from long snapper Ashton Ngo, he took a few steps as if getting ready to rugby kick, then took off running when he saw an opening.
“The fake punt was just a green light for Devin,” Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. “We had seen that they turn their back and I trust the guy.
“So we just said, ‘Hey, if they turn their back and you feel like you can get 15 yards, take off,’ and he did.
“And, man, he did a phenomenal job with that. Big play.”
Bale also was involved in a fake field goal attempt in the third quarter with the game tied 14-14.
The Razorbacks lined up for what would have been a 50-yard attempt by Kyle Ramsey on fourth-and-6 from the Texas A&M 32 when Bale took the snap from Ngo and got up to run.
Instead of getting the first down, Bale was tackled for a 5-yard loss by safety Marcus Ratcliffe and defensive end Shemar Stewart.
Pittman said the Aggies initially showed the same look on field goal defense as they have this season, but they reacted differently.
“The problem was, they normally drop the two outside guys,” Pittman said. “We were trying to run Landon (Jackson) on a fake pass and we knew the guy would go with him if we could run him into the middle linebacker, and then kick out the outside guy because he always just came up and stopped.
“It was the exact same look, except they rushed off the edge, which they hadn’t shown this year. On a tackle-over situation to the boundary, they rushed and they got us on it.
“Obviously, I felt like we’d make it or I wouldn’t have called it. But we didn’t.”
Back issue
Arkansas starting tight end Luke Hasz came out of the game with 11:26 left in the third quarter and didn’t return. He caught a pass from Taylen Green for a 2-yard gain, got up and grabbed his back, then motioned that he needed to come out. He went to bench and didn’t return.
“He came into the game with a back (issue),” Razorbacks Coach Sam Pittman said. “We felt like he could get through the game. He obviously could not.”
Hasz suffered a season-ending shoulder injury against Texas A&M last season in the fifth game.
First loss
Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino suffered his first loss in six games in which he’s coached at AT&T Stadium. He had been 5-0 in Arkansas-Texas A&M games with both teams.
Petrino was 3-0 as Arkansas’ head coach when the Razorbacks beat the Aggies three consecutive years, winning 47-19 in 2009, 24-17 in 2010 and 42-38 in 2011.
Petrino won again at AT&T Stadium when Arkansas beat Kansas State 29-16 in the Cotton Bowl to cap the 2011 season.
Last season, when Petrino was Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator, the Aggies beat the Razorbacks 34-22.
In a rush
Arkansas running back Ja’Quinden Jackson has as many rushing touchdowns as the Razorbacks did all of last season.
Jackson’s 8-yard touchdown run with 4:50 left in the first quarter to put Arkansas ahead 14-7 was his ninth rushing touchdown in five games.
The Razorbacks had nine rushing touchdowns last season in 12 games with KJ Jefferson, Raheim Sanders and AJ Green sharing the team lead with two each.
Arkansas has 17 rushing touchdowns this season.
First sacks
Landon Jackson, Arkansas’ senior All-SEC defensive end, finally got his first sacks of the season to make sure the Aggies didn’t get a score late in the second quarter to take a halftime lead.
Jackson broke through double-team blocking to sack Marcel Reed for a 9-yard loss to push the Aggies back to their 43.
With 25 seconds left before halftime and the scored tied 14-14, Texas A&M faced third-and-19 and chose not to run another play.
Jackson was credited for another sack in the third quarter, when Reed was called for intentional grounding.
Arkansas sophomore defensive end Quincy Rhodes got the first sack of his career when he tackled Reed for a 7-yard loss in the third quarter.
60,000-plus
Announced attendance for Saturday’s game — with the contract expiring for the Arkansas-Texas A&M to be played at AT&T Stadium — was 60,928.
It was a slight increase over last season’s attendance of 59,437.
The largest crowd at AT&T Stadium for an Arkansas-Texas A&M game was 71,872 in the teams’ first meeting there in 2009.
Going long
Taylen Green’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Isaac TeSlaa to cap Arkansas’ first possession was the longest play of the season for the Razorbacks.
The previous long play was Green’s 58-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna in Arkansas’ 24-14 victory at Auburn last week.
Green’s touchdown pass to Sategna was on third-and-19. His touchdown pass to TeSlaa was on third-and-10.
Injury report
Arkansas starting cornerback Jaylon Braxton missed his third consecutive game because of a knee injury. Marquise Robinson started in Braxton’s place.
Hogs safety Hudson Clark dressed out but didn’t play because of a back injury that has sidelined him the last three games.
Tight end Andreas Paaske missed his second game in a row because of concussion protocol.
Guard Patrick Kutas still hasn’t played this season because of a back injury. Wide receiver Monte Harrison was out with an undisclosed injury.
Running back Rashod Dubinion missed the game because of a suspension.
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman missed his third consecutive game because of a shoulder injury and again was replaced in the starting lineup by Marcel Reed.
Vs. Aggies
Arkansas leads its series against Texas A&M 42-36-3, but the Aggies have been dominant in SEC matchups.
Since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012, the Aggies are 12-1 against the Razorbacks, including 10-1 at AT&T Stadium.
Arkansas’ only victory in its last 13 game against Texas A&M was in 2021 when the Razorbacks won 20-10 at AT&T Stadium.
Quick score
Arkansas took a 7-0 lead on Taylen Green’s 75-yard touchdown pass to Issac TeSlaa with 13:49 left in the first quarter.
It was the second-earliest score in the history of the Southwest Classic, which started in 2009 with the game played in Arlington.
The earliest score came in Texas A&M’s 35-28 overtime victory in 2014 when the Aggies took a 7-0 lead on Brandon Williams’ 13-yard touchdown run with 13:55 left in the first quarter.
Honorary captains
Fred Marshall, a senior quarterback on Arkansas’ 1964 team that won a share of the national championship, served as an honorary captain along with R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M’s coach for 14 seasons from 1989-2002.
Marshall was an Arkansas teammate of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The two sat together at Saturday’s game in Jones’ private box. The 1964 Razorbacks finished 11-0, capped by a 10-7 victory over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
Slocum led Texas A&M to a 124-47-2 record overall and three consecutive Southwest Conference championships from 1991-93.
For starters
Arkansas opened in a two-tight end set as Luke Hasz — who has started every game — was joined in the lineup by Ty Washington. It was Washington’s first start of the season.
Quarterback Taylen Green kept the ball on a rushing attempt and was dropped for a 2-yard loss by defensive end Nic Scourton.
Rankled
Arkansas fell to 0-2 against ranked teams this season with its loss to No. 24 Texas A&M.
It was the second loss for Arkansas to a ranked team this season along with Oklahoma State’s 39-31 victory in double overtime on Sept. 7.
The Cowboys were ranked No. 16 for their game against the Razorbacks and rose to No. 13 in the subsequent Associated Press poll.
After a 22-19 home loss to Utah last week, Oklahoma State fell to No. 20.
The Cowboys’ 42-20 road loss at Kansas State on Saturday likely will drop them out of the poll.
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