ARLINGTON, Texas -- Coming into Saturday's game against Texas A&M, the Arkansas Razorbacks were the only Football Bowl Subdivision team in the country to not have allowed a play of 30 or more yards.
Not anymore.
The Aggies hit the Razorbacks' revamped 3-4 defense with four plays of 44 or more yards in Texas A&M's 50-43 overtime victory at AT&T Stadium.
That doesn't count Christian Kirk's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
"We just gave up way too many big plays," Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said.
All of Texas A&M's big plays on offense led to points.
It started when quarterback Kellen Mond -- a true freshman making his third start -- connected with Kirk for an 81-yard touchdown pass on third and 6 to tie the score 7-7 with 8:07 left in the first quarter.
Mond scrambled to extend the play, and Kirk got wide open behind the secondary.
"That was a broken play," Bielema said. "We wanted to keep him in the pocket ... and he gets outside to our left. Kirk kind of got lost in the play and ended up getting on top of our defenders."
Mond broke free to the outside for a 79-yard run in the second quarter on a read option play to set up a field goal.
It should have been an 89-yard touchdown run, but side judge Chris Conley mistakenly blew the play dead at the Arkansas 10, believing Mond stepped out of bounds. Replays showed Mond stayed in bounds, but the play wasn't reviewable under NCAA rules.
It still was the Aggies' longest run this season.
No University of Arkansas, Fayetteville defensive players were made available for interviews after the game, but Bielema said the defender assigned to Mond got caught looking at the wrong key and lost containment.
"I think there was a guard that pulled and [the defender] went after that," Bielema said. "So the guy was ... the side of the quarterback wasn't there."
Mond's 50-yard pass to true freshman Damion Ratley -- who was covered by true freshman cornerback Kamren Curl -- started an 82-yard drive that ended with Trayveon Williams' 18-yard touchdown run that pulled the Aggies within 21-17 with 1:57 left in the second quarter.
Bielema called it a 50-50 ball on Ratley's catch.
Mond completed 14 of 27 passes for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 109 yards.
"I think today he was able to sit in the pocket and go through his reads," said Kirk, who had 5 catches for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns. "Especially today, the ball placement was on point.
"I talked to him about it a lot ... us receivers getting time with Kellen and being where he needs us to be and knowing his tendencies. So we really clicked on that in practice this week. We had a great week of practice and it showed."
Limiting big plays has been an emphasis for the Razorbacks since their struggles last season when they finished 75th nationally in total defense (426.8 yards per game), 85th in scoring defense (31.1 points) and 94th in rushing defense (205.5 yards).
Until Saturday, the longest play Arkansas' defense had allowed was a 26-yard scramble by Florida A&M punter Chris Faddoul on a botched snap when the Razorbacks beat the Rattlers 49-7.
TCU beat Arkansas 28-7, but the Horned Frogs had only one play of more than 20 yards -- Kenny Hill's 22-yard pass to Shaun Nixon.
"We've kept the ball in front of us," Bielema said. "One of our mottoes is just to get the ball down and a chance to play another down."
But big plays helped the Aggies extended their winning streak to six games over the Razorbacks.
"It's a guy here, a guy there, missed call or a missed assignment," Bielema said. "Definitely something we've got to correct.
"Give them credit. They did a good job of capitalizing on it."
Sports on 09/24/2017