This was not the end. It was not the beginning of the end. It may, however, have been the end of the beginning.

Texas A&M’s 34-7 drubbing of Arkansas was not pretty. Nobody will want to save the game film in the National Archives. But it may have shown the Aggies a way to get back on their feet after a shockingly poor start.

Offense

The Aggies held onto the ball for 38:15 and tallied 401 yards of total offense. They averaged 5.9 yards per play. They ran the ball 49 times for 231 yards and didn’t turn the ball over. A&M ran an extremely conservative game plan and it worked. They figured they could play smashmouth againt Arkansas and their suspicions were proven correct.

This was probably the most limited gameplan I’ve ever seen for Marcel Reed, including back in 2024 when he was was wildly inconsistent. If your first two reads aren’t there and you see daylight, run. If you don’t like to look you’re seeing, run.

There was no reason for the Aggies to force the ball through the air, especially with their quarterback struggling with his confidence. Reed was 13-19 for 170 yards, but his 66 on the ground were critical. Bringing his legs back into the offense will now force other, more capable, opponents to prepare for it.

Reed completed 68% of his passes, which is his fourth best as a starter (his best? 71.8% last year versus…Arkansas). That’s a plus. But he still should have had more, as he missed Houston Thomas wide open in the middle, through a pass into double coverage that should have been picked off and had Isaiah Horton shortarm a pass he should have caught. We need to see more of Reed pushing the ball down the field before even considering him “cured”, and the offensive line has to protect better. But I did think he threw the ball as well as he has in a long time in the second half, as he went 4-6 with one pass that Rueben Owens probably should have caught. He hit two wide open receivers on the move, completed a good out route to TK Norman and a quick hitter to Ashton Bethel-Roman. Those are the throws you want to see, and the ones he needed to have to feel good about himself.

The offensive line may be bleh at pass blocking, but this group can run block. Tallying 231 yards is pretty good anytime, but this wasn’t last year’s Arkansas defense that was dead last in everything. This was a much-improved run defense that, while still not great, was still in the top half of run defenses nationwide. The Aggies ran for more than 100 yards more than they had given up on average, and that included playing Georgia. Also, they converted a 4th and 1, two 3rd and 1s and a 3rd and 2, all in the first half.

This was the first time I really devoted time to watching Lamont Rogers at right tackle, and he can really move some dudes. It’s hard to stop 340 pounds when it gets going, and he was pushing people around tonight. I thought Travon Baugh had a really good game at left guard, and Mark Nabou helped clear out the left side of the line for Carsyn Baker’s touchdown. No sacks allowed, one official hurry (which I scoff at) and only three tackles for loss allowed. That’s solid.

KJ Edwards is the guy at running back. I said before training camp even started that he’d be hard to get off the field, and there’s little doubt about that now. He averaged 6 yards a carry again tonight and scored the first two touchdowns of his career. His acceleration is elite, he’s got great vision and runs more physically than people think. The only question is whether he can stay healthy.

Tonight we found out Edwards and Baker are nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic’s got the speed, Baker’s got the power. We saw the speed on the sweep Edwards took for a score, and Baker ran over several guys during the game. His stat line (12 carries, 26 yards, 1 TD) is not impressive, but Baker’s in there normally to get a yard or two. And he did — at least while the game was in doubt.

Rueben Owens carried 14 times for 43 yards, which is pedestrian at best. Again tonight, there were a couple of runs where I thought he really had a chance to break free, but the burst wasn’t there. He doesn’t look like the same back we saw last year. He’s grinding out yards, but an RB1 should be able to make two into four and six into 60. But he really broke out against Missouri last year, so maybe another trip to Columbia will be the cure for him. I also liked what little we saw of DeDe Murray.

The tight ends were a huge factor tonight, even if they combined for two catches. Micah Riley, Richie Anderson and Houston Thomas were all part of the right side overload that Reed ran behind on 4th and 1 on the opening drive. Anderson took out two Arkansas defenders on Edwards’ first touchdown run. Kiotti Armstrong had the first big catch of his career, a 54-yarder — and I must say that nobody seemed overly eager to tackle him.

The receiver play didn’t do much for me at all. TK Norman did; he’s developing into one of those glue guys, the 3-star that nobody really gave much attention to except he just keeps catching passes. I know that’s a bit premature, considering he matched his career total tonight with three, but just watch him. I don’t know if I would have even played Mario Craver and I’m glad they got him out when they did. I’m expecting more from Isaiah Horton, but he struggles to get open. Ashton Bethel-Roman looked a little better tonight, but not like the 21 yards a catch ABR we saw last year. I think the loss of Terry Bussey has been more painful than anyone would have anticipated.

Overall, conservative game plan. The NFC North would approve. Go out, punch the other guy in the mouth and grind him down. The Aggies did that and the game was over with 27 minutes left to go.

Defense

I’m going to be that guy and gripe about a defense that held Arkansas to 214 yards of total offense and one touchdown. I thought there was still a lot of meat left on the bone and this group should have been looking for every morsel.

Arkansas ran for 103 yards at 4.7 YPC. That’s not great; it shouldn’t even be confused with good. But for a team that came in averaging 2.6 YPC and a long from a running back of 12 yards all season, 103 and a 30-yard run is a freaking bonanza. I really, really wanted to see them shut down the running game entirely and then blitz like madmen. I did not want to see Arkansas running the ball right up the middle, which they did a few times.

Neither happened. The Aggies remained very, very conservative in their defensive playcalls and rarely blitzed. They had six TFL and a single sack, but pressured KJ Jefferson more the longer the game went on. Maybe this is like the offensive gameplan — we know we can overwhelm these guys, so let’s not re-invent the wheel.

Arkansas’ offense was as I pointed out in the game preview — Chris Marshall. The former Aggie had a great one-handed touchdown catch and drove Julio Humphrey crazy in the first quarter; things were a lot more even by halftime. In the third quarter, Marshall found himself across from Dezz Ricks and was never heard from again. It’s not coincidental that Arkansas didn’t score after the first quarter, either.

The safety play was much improved. Arkansas came out on the third play from scrimmage and ran the same play LSU and Kentucky did for touchdowns, the long crossing pattern over the deep middle the the Aggies just didn’t cover. This time, Dalton Brooks was just sitting there waiting for it, and that was the first big momentum shift. Marcus Ratcliffe had a solid game, and Tawfiq Byard got his first real work and was impressive. He actually led the team in tackles with six and he created some havoc.

Even though I’m grumbly about the lack of sacks and the running game going off (relatively speaking), the line did not play badly. Landon Rink, in fact, was outstanding. He moved into the starting lineup tonight and had four tackles, including 1.5 TFL. His motor is going nonstop and his quickness causes issues for opponents. DJ Hicks and CJ Mims played solid games as well.

Marco Jones got a sack, but got nicked for a bad roughing the passer call that helped set up the Arkansas touchdown. I thought it was questionable, but nobody asked. The defensive end that had a good night that nobody will notice is Anto Saka. He didn’t get a sack, but he pressured Jefferson pretty consistently. If you get two official hurries, you probably caused him issues six times. I don’t know why that is, but it has always been that way.

Linebacker play was pretty solid. We got the real Daymion Sanford out there tonight and he racked up six tackles and a TFL. When he’s out there, the defense is definitely more dynamic. Noah Mikhail had another good game and Ray Coney is going to see that dropped interception in his sleep.

Arkansas came into this game averaging better than 275 yards passing per game. Tonight they had 111. Marshall had 78 of those, and 59 of those came in the first quarter. That means the secondary did an outstanding job. It’s comical how opponents absolutely will not throw the ball at Dezz Ricks. You know Marshall’s your offense. He’s the only guy with any real gamebreaking ability. Dezz Ricks is over? Nope. Not gonna do it.

Like with the offense, the defense took part in an imposition of will. They were like the guy with the dollar bill on the fish hook in the State Farm commercial: they’d dangle opportunity in front of Arkansas and then snatch it right back. And, after halftime, there were no opportunities. It was a strangulation.

Special teams

David Olano is a great kicker. Easy the best since Randy Bullock. Pounding a 57-yarder with room to spare is supposed to be tough to do in the college game. He had no trouble whatsoever. And then to follow that with another 50-yarder? Goodness. Last year, A&M went 16-26 in field goal attempts. Olano is already 7 for 7.

Tyler White had another good showing, albeit limited. He only needed to punt twice. The coverage teams were excellent. The Aggies are about as good at covering punts as anyone in America.

Coaching

The players could have doubted the coaches, but the staff did a good job getting them on board and got them to do just what they needed to — go out and push Arkansas around. This game was only in doubt for about five minutes, from the end of the first quarter through the early parts of the second. It was cold and dead with 12 minutes left in the third quarter.

So the credit goes to Mike Elko. He got the buy-in, had his guys ready and they just battered a program that tends to give the Aggies heartburn, even if A&M ends up winning. Not tonight. That was the most one-sided A&M-Arkansas game since Johnny Manziel took them apart in 2012.

Holmon Wiggins didn’t do anything fancy. The idea was to pound the ball at Arkansas, establish the run to prove to themselves they can do it just as much as it was to beat on the Razorbacks. There was no need for Reed to take risks, so Wiggins didn’t put him in a position to. Sometimes you don’t need a concerto when Master of Puppets will do just fine.

I still want to scream at the lack of blitzing, but the end result for the defense was strong. This was an offense that trashed Tulsa, which trashed Oklahoma State which trashed Oregon. None of that matters except for the fact Arkansas only had two real scoring chances, scored one touchdown and got stuffed on the other. No frills were required, so none were added.

Let’s not be too wild about this win, because facts are facts and Arkansas sucks. That’s a fact. But they are an SEC football team and the Aggies absolutely dominated them. This game may have served as bit of a proving ground for what works, what still needs fixing and where things go from here as the schedule gets ever tougher.