Difference in the game

[LRrazorback]

Team speed
It's very obvious watching these teams, A&M has way more speed on both sides of the ball. Since CBB has been here I've felt he's not made this a high enough priority in recruiting, despite decent recruiting classes

[AirForceHog]

Yes they did. Their QB outran the secondary.

[Hog Solo]

Good gracious .   Not why they won.

[Turminator]

some people call it "stars"

[PonderinHog]

Lost opportunities.

We had 'em.  Did not execute the kill shot.

[LZH]

A&M is one of the fastest teams in the country. Did we just learn this after kickoff?

Yes we should have been better prepared for what they did, but it wasn't like we were unaware of their speed when the game started.

[Jb1219]

Yea I don't know why he don't recuilt faster players better change that

[LRrazorback]

The only matchup we could win was our receivers vs their dbacks, we should have passed more early in the game and in the red zone. Every other matchup they were faster

[alohawg]

The only matchup we could win was our receivers vs their dbacks, we should have passed more early in the game and in the red zone. Every other matchup they were faster

Drove me nuts, was obvious early on.

[WorfHog]

Drove me nuts, was obvious early on.

Obvious to you me and the bourgeoisie, but not CDE and CBB. Let's run it up the middle more for a loss.

[hawginbigd1]

Come on guys, you want to throw every down? You try that against a defense like that and they might be carrying AA out in a body bag. Outside the goal line play calling I thought the offensive play calling/scheme was brilliant, and AA was almost perfect, missing a wide open SPrinkle in favor of throwing to a covered Reed on 3rd down may have been his only mistake.

[passinghog]

Come on guys, you want to throw every down? You try that against a defense like that and they might be carrying AA out in a body bag. Outside the goal line play calling I thought the offensive play calling/scheme was brilliant, and AA was almost perfect, missing a wide open SPrinkle in favor of throwing to a covered Reed on 3rd down may have been his only mistake.

Throw the ball every down? No way. Put the ball in your best players hands in the most important situations? Yes. Right now, if it's 3rd and 4, you can't tell me you're confident we'd pick it up if we tried to run for it. Last year? Yes. 3rd and 2-5 yards to go, line up in the gun and hit Morgan on an option route, or Sprinkle on anything, or Hatcher on a slant, or Jred and a curl. So far this season it's been pitch and catch for our guys.

[Pig In The City]

We are mediocre in all three phases. Period.

[Inhogswetrust]

Lost opportunities.

We had 'em.  Did not execute the kill shot.

That is it plain and simple. The only other thing was the Aggies big runs. Without big run gains we are in the game and punch in one of those red zone stops into a TD and we win. Due to our style we have very little margin for error.

[MountieDawg]

Throw the ball every down? No way. Put the ball in your best players hands in the most important situations? Yes. Right now, if it's 3rd and 4, you can't tell me you're confident we'd pick it up if we tried to run for it. Last year? Yes. 3rd and 2-5 yards to go, line up in the gun and hit Morgan on an option route, or Sprinkle on anything, or Hatcher on a slant, or Jred and a curl. So far this season it's been pitch and catch for our guys.

Should have kept throwing to Hatcher, every time it was a catch or interference.  The reverse on 4th and one at the goal line was an awful call against a speed defense.

[Hoggish1]

Yes they did. Their QB outran the secondary.

The secondary was not in position to tackle him.  Thus he had a clear shot to just run straight down the field.

[Hoggish1]

Lost opportunities.

We had 'em.  Did not execute the kill shot.

Agreed.  Never saw so many kill shots not executed in one game.

But the biggest kill shot (executed against us) was a self inflicted wound by Coley.

[Nosboar Accubond]

Yes they did. Their QB outran the secondary.

That was all about poor calls, we put our guys in bad positions. If Knight has that much space he's hard to catch, but we did track him down it wasn't like he pulled away to daylight.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

The difference in the game was not team speed. It was turnovers and not scoring on the 4th and goal. Score a TD on the 4th and goal, and the game turns out a lot different.

[hogcard1964]

They're an above average team. We're still mediocre.

End of story.

Hey just wondering guys, how many more years do we have to wait to be a top 10-15 program?

[Jeff "hogfanintx" Anderson]

Hatcher was the only.mismatch in hogs favor.  They had no answer for him. Should have targeted him more.


More importantly however was predictability.  How many olays inside the 10 when the game was still close did we see first down run no gain, second down run no gain.

[Biggus Piggus]

Had lots of chances and blew too many. Gave up too many stupid points in the first half. Very unimpressed with Arkansas 's offensive plan. Unimpressed that they settled on that offensive line. Nonplussed about Bielema's leadership. Really - it should have been closer. Bad strategy. Bad adjustments.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

They're an above average team. We're still mediocre.

End of story.

Hey just wondering guys, how many more years do we have to wait to be a top 10-15 program?

A&M looked as good as 70% of the top 10 teams I have watched this year, and I hate to say it. I hate them. I hate them with the passion of a 1000 burning suns. I also hope they lose every game they play the rest of the year. However, like it or not, they are as good as most in the top 10. They are not in the top 3.

[RazorWhacker]

The difference in the game was not team speed. It was turnovers and not scoring on the 4th and goal. Score a TD on the 4th and goal, and the game turns out a lot different.

This reflects how I feel about the game.

That 95 yard, 10 minute drive in the 3rd quarter was the turning point.  During the drive, there were defenders getting up slowly after every play and you could almost see them mentally accepting defeat. Had we scored a TD there it would have been the nail in the coffin for them. Instead, due to some hard-headed play calling, the mindset went complete 180 on both teams.

Turnovers, stupid penalties, and head-scratcher play calls made our team give up in the 4th.

The coaches have a lot to work on. I hope they address ALL of the shortcomings in the next 2 weeks.

[RazorWhacker]

Should have kept throwing to Hatcher, every time it was a catch or interference.  The reverse on 4th and one at the goal line was an awful call against a speed defense.

I would've been ok with that call on first or second down. I'm not ok with it on 4th down when the first 3 downs were what they were. If the Aggie DC could've drawn up what he wanted us to run on those 4 plays I think that's exactly what you'd have seen on his white board. We played right into their hands.

[grassroothog]

Had lots of chances and blew too many. Gave up too many stupid points in the first half. Very unimpressed with Arkansas 's offensive plan. Unimpressed that they settled on that offensive line. Nonplussed about Bielema's leadership. Really - it should have been closer. Bad strategy. Bad adjustments.

Yep. I was reminded of the definition of insanity during that goal line fart. And its seems to happen repeatedly.

[HogShat]

Should have kept throwing to Hatcher, every time it was a catch or interference.  The reverse on 4th and one at the goal line was an awful call against a speed defense.

Go back and watch it. Hatch made a bad read. He had a perfect hole to the endzone by cutting in behind Skip. Chose to run wide instead where there was an unblocked corner. Excellent play call, poor execution.

[Bebop]

The difference in the game is us. We can compete just not execute. Too many blunders. If we have are stuff together we would have won.

[The Hogfather]

Go back and watch it. Hatch made a bad read. He had a perfect hole to the endzone by cutting in behind Skip. Chose to run wide instead where there was an unblocked corner. Excellent play call, poor execution.

I said the same thing.  He tried to out run that guy to the corner.  He should've cut upfield earlier.

[TNRazorbacker]

When you're playing a team with more speed and talent you win with discipline, good fundamentals, and execution. Up to this game I've thought that's exactly the kind of team we were. Just had too many breakdowns in this regard, particularly the fumbles which was a back breaker.

No shame in this loss though, this wasn't Toledo, the Aggies were better plain and simple. They should have won. The Hogs are a good team, better than I thought they'd be prior to the season. Most of the teams left on the schedule won't be this good. Lots of wins left in this team.

[RazorWhacker]

When you're playing a team with more speed and talent you win with discipline, good fundamentals, and execution. Up to this game I've thought that's exactly the kind of team we were. Just had too many breakdowns in this regard, particularly the fumbles which was a back breaker.

No shame in this loss though, this wasn't Toledo, the Aggies were better plain and simple. They should have won. The Hogs are a good team, better than I thought they'd be prior to the season. Most of the teams left on the schedule won't be this good. Lots of wins left in this team.

I don't agree that Aggie should've won. We had our chances to put them away in the 3rd despite the self inflicted wounds of the 1st half. We just didn't get the ball in the end zone at the crucial point.

[hawgXi]

This reflects how I feel about the game.

That 95 yard, 10 minute drive in the 3rd quarter was the turning point.  During the drive, there were defenders getting up slowly after every play and you could almost see them mentally accepting defeat. Had we scored a TD there it would have been the nail in the coffin for them. Instead, due to some hard-headed play calling, the mindset went complete 180 on both teams.

Turnovers, stupid penalties, and head-scratcher play calls made our team give up in the 4th.

The coaches have a lot to work on. I hope they address ALL of the shortcomings in the next 2 weeks.

I think you make a good point.

the game certainly turned on failure to finish that drive.

also several momentum changing penalties scattered around hurt

[SPAL]

This reflects how I feel about the game.

That 95 yard, 10 minute drive in the 3rd quarter was the turning point.  During the drive, there were defenders getting up slowly after every play and you could almost see them mentally accepting defeat. Had we scored a TD there it would have been the nail in the coffin for them. Instead, due to some hard-headed play calling, the mindset went complete 180 on both teams.

Turnovers, stupid penalties, and head-scratcher play calls made our team give up in the 4th.

The coaches have a lot to work on. I hope they address ALL of the shortcomings in the next 2 weeks.

This. This was the turning point. I'm upset we lost but I saw a lot of positives. Tamu is a top5 team and we were better for 3 quarters. Poor play calling at the goaline cost us this one. I still
See 8 or 9 wins.

[sigpooie]

we need a better dumbbell coach, our guy thinks it more important to lift a VW than to last a whole game. YOU only have to actually play about 23 mins total in a game like this and we can't make it though 10. We need a dumbbell coach that makes them strong and fast was well as able to play 20 mins worth of plays. And we would have beat them by converting in the 2nd and 3rd qts. OH and our OL is just all kinds of messed up right now. They can't power anyone (see LT game) they can trick block there way to the sides and can't find the extra defender on any play. Allen might not make it pass the bama game.

[Faithful Hog]

Poor redzone execution (coaches and players combined) and costly turnovers were the difference.  Period.  We moved the ball well enough.  Austin was tough as nails.  You are looking at a 3 to 4 td swing in those 2 areas easily.

[Faithful Hog]

And I agree with others, it would have helped to throw on 1st down now and again, especially when you expose their secondary every time you actually have time for your qb to throw...

[Jeff "hogfanintx" Anderson]

This. This was the turning point. I'm upset we lost but I saw a lot of positives. Tamu is a top5 team and we were better for 3 quarters. Poor play calling at the goaline cost us this one. I still
See 8 or 9 wins.

Only thing i disagree with is i do not think the Aggies are a top 5 team.

[Jonbo]

Good gracious .   Not why they won.

I think I disagree with you. Team speed had a lot to do with their advantage. That and "stars"  .

[Jonbo]

Oh, and yeah, the play calling on the goal line was just horrific. Play-action roll out to the tight end in the flat somewhere in those, about 20, failed goal line plays. Oh, and when you've failed 19 times in a row on the goal line, don't go for it on 4th down. You need some kind of victory here. Kick the field goal. The team just gave in after that, ISTM.

[ricepig]

Only thing i disagree with is i do not think the Aggies are a top 5 team.

I don't either, probably a top 15, we'll know soon enough.

[eric_mullins34]

Come on guys, you want to throw every down? You try that against a defense like that and they might be carrying AA out in a body bag. Outside the goal line play calling I thought the offensive play calling/scheme was brilliant, and AA was almost perfect, missing a wide open SPrinkle in favor of throwing to a covered Reed on 3rd down may have been his only mistake.

If we threw more earlier in the game then we wouldn't have had to throw every down. They would've stopped loading the box to stop the run in order to slow down the passing attack.

[carolinahogger]

Only thing i disagree with is i do not think the Aggies are a top 5 team.

Agreed.  Lack of a QB will cost them 2 or 3 games this season.  Year after year we make mediocre QBs look like superstars.  That's what happened again last night. 

And the sad thing is that we had him throttled for half the game.  He was a whipped pup until we let go of his throat.

[GuvHog]

Come on guys, you want to throw every down? You try that against a defense like that and they might be carrying AA out in a body bag. Outside the goal line play calling I thought the offensive play calling/scheme was brilliant, and AA was almost perfect, missing a wide open SPrinkle in favor of throwing to a covered Reed on 3rd down may have been his only mistake.

No one wants them to throw every down, that's not the issue. The issue is if something is working all the way down the field, don't abandon it and go to a different offensive philosophy once the offense gets the ball inside the opponents 10 yard line. The Hogs did that frequently last night and it cost them dearly.

[Biggus Piggus]

Arkansas should have been taking shots at the end zone every time it got inside the Aggies' 40. We were too obsessed with the long, time-consuming drive. This game was a rerun of Texas Tech 2015.

[Lake City Hog]

Guys, PLEASE quit trashing OUR players! All I have read is that we lack this or we lack that, need more stars, need more speed and the famous "our players didn't execute". BS!

The FACT is that this is Robb Smith's 3rd game vs ATM and we have lost ALL 3 the same way! Play fairly solid defense and then give up 2 or 3 drives of 70 to 80 yards in only 2 or 3 plays. Einstein said that trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is INSANITY! It might just be time for our DC to try something different, something radical.
The simple truth is that teams with a lot less talent than us quite often play these teams better than we do and I think that it is because they have a MUCH better plan.

Offensively we helped ATM to look like an NFL defense. We bunched up as tightly as possible and then tried to run the ball into a HUGE pile of humanity. They could simply stack people into every gap and overwhelm our O'Line.
Why not have our tackles take an extra half step or so to the outside? Force the D to make a choice, line up on his outside shoulder and have an extra 2 or 3 yards to get to the QB or try to take an inside shoulder stance and maybe the tackle can drive him towards the center of the line. Would that have helped?? I have no idea, I do know that what we were doing made our O'Line look like Ned and the 1st reader!

[Biggus Piggus]

Agreed.  Lack of a QB will cost them 2 or 3 games this season.  Year after year we make mediocre QBs look like superstars.  That's what happened again last night. 

And the sad thing is that we had him throttled for half the game.  He was a whipped pup until we let go of his throat.

Bielema saying "they can't throw" after halftime reminded me of Rex Ryan. Very bad to be the college version of Rex Ryan.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Bielema saying "they can't throw" after halftime reminded me of Rex Ryan. Very bad to be the college version of Rex Ryan.

Holy crap!  I've never posted it on HV, but I've said many times that BB reminds me of Rex Ryan. 

[Squinky The Curse]

This reflects how I feel about the game.

That 95 yard, 10 minute drive in the 3rd quarter was the turning point.  During the drive, there were defenders getting up slowly after every play and you could almost see them mentally accepting defeat. Had we scored a TD there it would have been the nail in the coffin for them. Instead, due to some hard-headed play calling, the mindset went complete 180 on both teams.

Turnovers, stupid penalties, and head-scratcher play calls made our team give up in the 4th.

The coaches have a lot to work on. I hope they address ALL of the shortcomings in the next 2 weeks.

Yeah, you're seeing what you want to see here. We had already sliced through your defense easily to get down inside your 5 before a high snap and poor decision by Trevor Knight resulted in a fumble. Even if you had scored on that long drive in the third, we still go right down the field and tie it up. Your defense hadn't stopped our offense since 9:27 mark of the second quarter. Since that point, our possessions went FG, TD, fumble, TD,TD,TD,TD, kneel to end game. That is scoring 6 of 7 drives, not counting the kneel down.

There was no 'nail in the coffin' moment for your team.

[ricepig]

Yeah, you're seeing what you want to see here. We had already sliced through your defense easily to get down inside your 5 before a high snap and poor decision by Trevor Knight resulted in a fumble. Even if you had scored on that long drive in the third, we still go right down the field and tie it up. Your defense hadn't stopped our offense since 9:27 mark of the second quarter. Since that point, our possessions went FG, TD, fumble, TD,TD,TD,TD, kneel to end game. That is scoring 6 of 7 drives, not counting the kneel down.

There was no 'nail in the coffin' moment for your team.

Or.....you turn it over again, no one knows for sure, lol.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

Yeah, you're seeing what you want to see here. We had already sliced through your defense easily to get down inside your 5 before a high snap and poor decision by Trevor Knight resulted in a fumble. Even if you had scored on that long drive in the third, we still go right down the field and tie it up. Your defense hadn't stopped our offense since 9:27 mark of the second quarter. Since that point, our possessions went FG, TD, fumble, TD,TD,TD,TD, kneel to end game. That is scoring 6 of 7 drives, not counting the kneel down.

There was no 'nail in the coffin' moment for your team.

Yes, odds are you are correct.  You guys could go 90 yards in 2 plays when you have too.  We likely would never have gotten enough of a lead to hold you off.  And once you took the lead, it was over.  We aren't built to play from behind.