ARLINGTON — The combination of quarterback Max Johnson and the Texas A&M defense helped the Aggies earn their fourth victory of the season with a 34-22 win over Arkansas in the 2023 Southwest Classic at AT&T Stadium.
A&M put up a full team effort as the offense amassed over 400 yards and moved the ball up and down the field, the defense held Arkansas under 200 yards of total offense and just 42 on the ground, and the special teams pitched in with some key plays.
“It wasn’t pretty. We’re nowhere close to playing what we are capable of playing, in my opinion,” Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher told the media postgame. “But the guys played hard. They’re physical. They’re playing together. They’re not hanging their head no matter what the circumstances are, and they’re playing the next series, whether it’s offense, defense, [or] special teams. And we will learn to get better.”
Arkansas killed most of the first quarter with a 15-play, 42-yard drive that ended with a 52-yard field goal from Cam Little. Texas A&M wasted no time responding, as Johnson hit wide receiver Evan Stewart for a 32-yard touchdown to take the lead.
After trading field goals, Arkansas returner Isaiah Sategna appeared to have a lane to the end zone on a kick return but fumbled the ball out of bounds as he tried to leap over the kicker.
A pivotal moment in the game came in the second quarter as Arkansas lined up to punt on fourth down and less than a yard. However, the Razorbacks decided to call a timeout and go for the first down, losing a yard on a run play and turning the ball over on downs.
A&M capitalized on the opportunity with another touchdown to take a 17-6 lead at halftime.
“Sometimes you make decisions on how everything’s kind of feeling during the game and things of that nature, and we hadn’t stopped them,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pitman explained after the game. “They had missed a field goal, but we hadn’t stopped them. No matter where the starting point was, we had three timeouts left. I thought if we make the first down right there, that we could go down and either cut the lead to one or take the lead.”
Arkansas intercepted Johnson’s first pass of the second half for a touchdown to cut the lead to four, and the Razorbacks followed it with a fumble recovery and a field goal to make it a 17-16 game.
Texas A&M regained momentum with 5:15 left in the third quarter as the pass rush continued to hound Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson, and linebacker Chris Russell Jr. intercepted a deflected pass and returned it for a touchdown.
As Arkansas kept fighting despite its offensive struggles, the Aggies got another special teams touchdown on an 82-yard punt return from Anias Smith to put the game out of reach.
Arkansas added a late touchdown but could not convert on the two-point conversion attempt and the onside kick, allowing A&M to milk the clock.
Johnson threw for 210 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception on 17-of-28 passing, and the Aggies’ rushing offense added 204 yards.
Jefferson’s 132 passing yards led Arkansas, as the offense managed just 174 yards on the day.
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WHAT TO KNOW
— Saturday was the 80th all-time meeting between Texas A&M and Arkansas and the 12th time they have met at AT&T Stadium.
— Texas A&M is now 2-0 in the SEC for the first time in Jimbo Fisher’s tenure.
— Arkansas is in the midst of a four-game SEC road trip.
— Arkansas leads the all-time series 42-35-3 but has just one win over A&M since 2012.
— Little’s 52-yard field goal was the longest-made field goal in Southwest Classic history and the sixth-longest converted at AT&T Stadium.
— Saturday’s game was the first college football game played at AT&T Stadium to feature two interceptions returned for touchdowns since 2017 (Florida vs. Michigan).
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BY THE NUMBERS
— Texas A&M had seven sacks in the game and has 14 sacks over its last two games.
— The Aggies averaged twice as many yards per play as Arkansas.
— Texas A&M entered the game with the SEC’s highest red zone scoring rate (95.2%) and went 2/3 in the red zone on Saturday.
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WHO SAID
— Fisher on Johnson’s performance: “I think he played an excellent first half. He had one mistake [on] the first drive out. Made a mistake. And then he makes another great play. I think he had that ball tucked in the right arm. And he made a great run. I mean, [he] picked up a first down and just happened to fumble the ball, and we had to take care of it. Other than that, I thought he did a really nice job.”
— Pitman on his team’s physicality: “Certainly not what we want it to be. Probably didn’t look very good today. I would say last week [was] better than today. And I’d say the week before was not very good. Probably the week before that, not very good.”
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NEXT UP
Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0 in the SEC) hosts No.12 Alabama (3-1, 1-1) in College Station next Saturday, while Arkansas (2-3, 0-2) travels to Ole Miss (3-1, 0-1).
