Texas A&M vs. Arkansas: Aggies' rally stuns Razorbacks in Southwest Classic, again

ARLINGTON — Texas A&M football and the Arkansas Razorbacks came out the gates of the Southwest Classic on fire, but what looked like a shootout brewing turned into a defensive struggle that saw the Aggies come out on top 21-17.

The Aggies were able to rack up 137 yards on the ground (not counting QB kneels) against one of the country's best rush defenses but most of that production came late in the game. A&M mustered 56 yards through three quarters before exploding for 81 in the final frame.

A late fumble from Razorback quarterback Taylen Green forced by Aggies defensive lineman Nic Scourton gave A&M (4-1, 2-0 SEC) its 12th win in the last 13 games against its longtime rival.

TAKEAWAYS: How Nic Scourton, Noah Thomas and Marcel Reed helped A&M to victory

Head coach Mike Elko spoke all week about the intensity of playing Arkansas (3-2, 1-1) and is proud of the way his team responded considering the circumstances.

"Arkansas-Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium, how else would you expect it to go? All the way down to the stretch and needed to make plays in the fourth quarter to win it," Elko said. "I thought we did a great job of overcoming adversity all day today. You know, certainly didn't start the way you wanted to."

His defense held one of the nation's best rushing attacked to just 3.3 yards per carry (30 Arkansas rushes for 100 yards).

RAZORBACKS GRADES: How Arkansas football graded in its loss to Texas A&M

"It's a great win. It's another step in the right direction for us," Elko said. "We know there could be moments where it doesn't look exactly what we wanted to, but we just go, and I think it's more what the story should be — more about what they did at the end."

Perhaps the biggest play of the game came from Scourton, who finished with two sacks. His game-sealing takedown with under two minutes left salted the game and resulted in a fumble recovery for his defense.

"Coming off the bench, I'm like, 'I got to make a play. It's a tight game. Got to make a play,'" Scourton said. "I know (Green) loved to roll off that throwing hand... Instincts kicked in."

Sacks haven't come in bunches for Scourton just yet since leading the Big Ten at Purdue last season. But he indicated that he knew a big game was brewing.

READ MORE: Aggies 2024 football, basketball stories, photos, analysis

Redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed moved to 3-0 as the No. 24 Aggies starter. Noah Thomas had six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Green finished 23-for-41 for 291 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

The Razorbacks offense came out firing to start with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Green to wide receiver Isaac Teslaa on the third play of the game.

Following the quick strike score, the Aggies' defense responded by forcing a three-and-out on the next possession. From there, the offense cashed in from 58 yards on a Reed pass to Thomas to even the score at 7-7.

The Razorbacks pulled out some trickery to score their second touchdown of the day. A sack by A&M's Jaydon Hill looked as if it would force the Razorbacks into a punt.

Arkansas ran a fake punt that picked up big yardage and kept the drive alive. From there, the Razorbacks continued a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by an 8-yard Ja'Quinden Jackson touchdown run to put them back on top 14-7.

The scoring slowed for a bit until the middle of the second quarter. Following an Aggies punt, the Razorbacks got the ball back deep in their own territory, looking to extend their lead.

However, Aggies' defensive lineman Shemar Stewart had other plans. On a first down handoff, Stewart attacked the mesh point and blew up both the quarterback and running back, forcing a fumble. Aggies' Scooby Williams scooped it up and gave the offense the ball on the 10-yard line going in. Two plays later, Reed calls his own number from 5 yards out, and A&M ties the ball game up at 14-14.

What looked like an offensive shootout settled down and became much more of a defensive struggle as the half went on. Both teams were able to muster up tough defensive stops, and despite getting into opposing territory, neither was able to add more points following A&M's game-tying touchdown at the midway point of the second quarter.

Up next for No. 24 Texas A&M is a home date versus No. 11 Missouri.

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas A&M football vs. Arkansas: Aggies win 2024 Southwest Classic