ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jarius Wright and Tyler Wilson had record-breaking performances and the Arkansas defense put up a second-half wall to help the Razorbacks keep their lofty goals for the season alive Saturday.
The No. 18 Razorbacks rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit for a 42-38 victory over No. 14 Texas A&M before a crowd of 69,838 at Cowboys Stadium.
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 2, 2011, edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas (4-1), racked by more injuries and ravaged by Texas A&M's running game, allowed just three second-half points to remain unbeaten in three years of the Southwest Classic.
"Wow, what a day's work," Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino said. "Our players played with a tremendous amount of heart, competitive spirit and toughness. That's a good win. That's a really good win."
Texas A&M (3-2) was left to ponder its second consecutive large blown halftime lead after dropping its seventh consecutive game against an SEC opponent.
"Certainly a disappointing second half of football," Texas A&M Coach Mike Sherman said. "You look at the stats and you could justify different things. The bottom line is we didn't do enough in the second half to win."
The Razorbacks and Aggies were both looking to bounce back from tough losses a week ago: Arkansas a 38-14 defeat at Alabama, and Texas A&M a 30-29 home loss to Oklahoma State.
"What I saw from our kids was that their performance from last weekend was not acceptable at all," Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said. "They were going to compete like crazy and leave it all out on the field."
Texas A&M rolled up 404 total yards and a 35-17 lead by halftime as the Razorbacks struggled to get running backs Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray to the ground.
Wright worked over the middle of the Texas A&M defense with 13 catches for a school-record 281 yards and a score, and the senior also recovered a Cobi Hamilton fumble for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Wilson completed 30 of 51 passes for a school-record 510 yards and 3 touchdowns. His two-point conversion run after Wright's end zone fumble recovery tied the score 35-35 with 11 minutes remaining.
"I knew we were going to be pretty successful in the second half if the defense would just hold them a couple of times," Wilson said. "I thought we'd have a pretty good shot."
Arkansas played without starting defensive ends Jake Bequette and Tenarius Wright, as well as cornerback Isaac Madison, and lost starting corner Darius Winston to a leg injury in the first quarter and receiver Joe Adams to a rib injury in the second quarter.
Texas A&M, which piled up 628 total yards, drove for a go-ahead field goal with 4:22 remaining after a third-and-6 stop by the Hogs on a quarterback draw at the Arkansas 6.
Arkansas, aided by two penalties, moved 80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:41 remaining, a 3-yard run by Broderick Green for his second score of the game. Wilson connected with Wright on a 31-yard pass over the middle on the series, then the pair hooked up again on a 5-yard pass to reach the 3.
"We watched a lot of film, [and] we saw they left the middle open a lot," Wright said. "We made them pay."
Green, who was thought to be out for the year after tearing a knee ligament in April, followed an overloaded line over the left side for the touchdown in his first game back.
The Aggies still had 96 seconds to drive for a touchdown against an Arkansas defense that yielded 224 second-half yards. Ryan Tannehill threw incomplete on first and second downs, then ran for 8 yards on third down. On fourth and 2, tackles Zach Stadther and Byran Jones got strong penetration to help linebacker Alonzo Highsmith stuff Michael for no gain at the Texas A&M 39.
Green powered for 10 yards on a third and 8 with about 50 seconds remaining to help Arkansas run out the clock.
Texas A&M might have hurt its cause in the second half by losing some of the aggressiveness displayed early.
Sherman turned down two chances to go for it on fourth-and-1 situations in good field position. The first opportunity came with Texas A&M leading 35-20 and the ball at the Arkansas 39 with 10:04 to play in the third quarter. Texas A&M tried unsuccessfully to draw Arkansas offside. A delay-of-game penalty pushed the ball back to the 44, and Arkansas took over at its 25 after a 19-yard punt.
Texas A&M faced another fourth and 1 at its 49 with about 13 minutes left, and Sherman elected to punt again, pinning Arkansas at its 14.
"I felt like if the defense was playing better, I probably would have gone for it," Sherman said. "If we would've been playing better defense, like we were playing last year, it would've been different."
Arkansas scored each time after Texas A&M punted on fourth and 1, going 75 yards in 10 plays the first time to make it 35-27 and then 86 yards in six plays after the second punt to tie the game.
The second-half comeback looked remote after Arkansas' bleak start.
Texas A&M bludgeoned the Razorbacks on the ground throughout the first half, scoring on two of their first 10 plays for a 14-0 lead.
Michael had 128 rushing yards and three touchdowns by halftime, and 230 rushing yards for the game.
"The stats don't matter," said Tannehill, who was 25 of 35 for 247 yards and 1 interception.
Sports on 05/24/2020