FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas offensive line coach Kurt Anderson said Brian Wallace and Colton Jackson are engaged in a solid competition at right tackle this week in preparation for the No. 17 Razorbacks' game against No. 10 Texas A&M on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
Jackson started the first three games, but Wallace got extensive first-team work last week against Texas State and was listed No. 1 on the depth chart for the Texas A&M game, though Coach Bret Bielema said Monday that the two players are essentially splitting the position.
"Both guys are preparing like they're going be the starter," Anderson said Wednesday. "We'll see as we get closer. It goes all the way up until game time in the way that I do it."
Junior Frank Ragnow, a returning starter, was moved from center to right guard last week so he could help the younger right tackles. Jackson is a redshirt freshman and Wallace a redshirt sophomore.
"It's just the mental things that kind of holds them back," Ragnow said. "Colton is a young guy and B-Wall is just struggling with the playbook a little bit. But they're two guys that care about the game, so it's easy to work with guys that want to get better."
Hitting Texas
Several of Arkansas' top players hail from Texas, so the Razorbacks enjoy playing games in the Dallas Metroplex because of its importance in recruiting and the ability to play at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, owned by former Razorback Jerry Jones.
"Obviously when you're not from there, it's a big deal to get in there," Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said. "But obviously the Jones family and their history with Arkansas, it's pretty cool to be in there and be part of that crowd.
"We'd like to be able to let them celebrate, though."
The Razorbacks have dropped their last two games against Texas A&M in Arlington.
9 of 10 run
Arkansas is one of 12 FBS teams to have nine victories in its last 10 games. The Razorbacks have had four 10-game stretches with 9-1 records since joining the SEC in 1992.
During the current 10-game span, Arkansas is averaging 42.8 points per game, with seven games of 40 or more points. The Razorbacks are out-rushing their opponents by an average of 201.3 to 116.8 per game in the span, and they have four games with 200-plus rushing yards and 200-plus passing yards.
Arkansas has won the time of possession battle in eight of the games, including the last six in a row. The Hogs lead 56-28 in points off of turnovers.
Line checks
Bret Bielema said quarterback Austin Allen made some astute checks at the line of scrimmage against Texas State, moving plays away from anticipated pressure from the wide side of the field and getting the Razorbacks into plays heading the other direction.
Offensive coordinator Dan Enos agreed, saying Allen's latitude on calling audibles varies from game to game.
"They were a big overload blitz team," Enos said. "We had some things in the plan that we did not want to run into that, and we had certain things we wanted to run into or away from if we had the opportunity.
"He did that a couple of times last week and got us into the right plays. He did a really good job of the game management portion of the game on Saturday night."
Bielema said a couple of Arkansas' false starts came from Allen tying to change the cadence.
"I got after him pretty good on that one," Bielema said. "As the quarterback, he has to get better command of that. But when you're rotating centers ... we've got to make sure that's not an issue."
Sack central
Arkansas and Texas A&M both rank in the top 20 nationally in sacks per game. The Aggies are No. 9 with 4.0 sacks per game and the Razorbacks are tied for 15th with 3.33 sacks per game.
Both teams have spread their sacks around, with eight A&M players accounting for 12, led by three from 6-5 end Myles Garrett and two each from linebackers Claude George and Jarrett Johnson. Arkansas has spread its 10 sacks among nine players, led by 2.5 from Jeremiah Ledbetter and 2 from Deatrich Wise.
Being efficient
Arkansas has allowed 224 passing yards per game and has passed for 218.3 yards per game, numbers that rank around the middle of the pack nationally.
However, in terms of passing efficiency on offense and defense, which factors in completion percentage, yards per pass, and touchdowns scored and allowed, the Razorbacks rank 27th in each, which puts them in the top quartile nationally.
Arkansas is completing 66.2 percent of its passes and has 7 touchdown passes on 80 attempts. The Hogs' opponents are completing 57.4 percent of their throws and have one touchdown pass -- Kenny Hill's 13-yard strike to Taj Williams in overtime at TCU -- on 115 attempts.
Hold on
Texas A&M defensive coordinator John Chavis didn't want to express an opinion when asked at the team's weekly news conference if the Aggies have to accept that end Myles Garrett is consistently held by without penalty.
"I'm not going to question how the games are being officiated, OK?" Chavis said. "That can get you in hot water. We've got a league. They do it as well as anybody else. The thing is, we're not going to let the calls that happen on the field affect the way we play. We can't do that. Those are things you can't control.
"We've just got play through it if something happens we don't particularly like. Myles and every player out there understands that."
Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin was asked if Garrett ever complains about getting held with no calls.
"He doesn't talk about that," Sumlin said. "He doesn't complain about anything. I'll just say we've sent our concerns into the proper authorities."
Breakaway speed
Texas A&M freshman tailback Trayveon Williams is averaging 8.4 yards per carry, highlighted by an 89-yard touchdown run at Auburn last week.
"There hasn't been a runner like that here in a while," Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin said. "He's definitely got home run speed."
Williams, who enrolled at Texas A&M in January and went through spring practice, has rushed 28 times for 236 yards his first 3 games.
Tough Tretola love
Then-Razorback Sebastian Tretola addressed the team after last year's overtime loss to Texas A&M and he wasn't exchanging pleasantries.
"You know, sometimes tough love is the best love," Coach Bret Bielema said. "If you know Sebastian, he doesn't really mince words. He speaks from his heart, and he speaks from experience, and he saw an opportunity for us to make improvements in a short fashion if we just kind of changed our mind frame.
"He's been very impactful. ... He's a guy that cares, and he represents that every day."
Sports on 09/23/2016