All of Texas A&M’s flaws were on display against Arkansas

By JIMMY BURCH

jburch@star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON — Texas A&M endures a night of growing pains in a lopsided loss to Arkansas.

Somewhere in the middle of Saturday’s first quarter, as thousands of giddy Texas A&M fans were busy celebrating the Aggies’ return as a prime-time force in the college football world, reality reared its head.

Its Hog head, to be exact.

After spotting the young, scrappy and error-prone Aggies an early 10-point lead, Arkansas dropped the hammer — time and again — for the final three-plus quarters in Cowboys Stadium.

To the delight of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, a former Arkansas player who helped arrange this neutral-site reunion of former Southwest Conference rivals, the Razorbacks rolled to a 47-19 triumph, scoring the final 30 points of the first half and 37 of 40 in one stretch.

Ultimately, the glare of the ESPN2 spotlight proved too bright for the young Aggies (3-1), who built some gaudy statistics during the first three weeks of the season while throttling three overmatched opponents in College Station. But they had too many penalties (8), turnovers (2) and missed opportunities (countless), with the telling ones occurring in rapid-fire fashion in the latter stages of the first half.

"I wish we could have made it more of a game," A&M coach Mike Sherman said. "But those days will come."

Arkansas (2-2) represented a significant step up in competition for A&M, which started six freshmen and played roughly triple that total. Not surprisingly, the Aggies were reminded they are a work in progress and should not be planning to hang on to their status as the NCAA leader in total yards (574.3 per game) or sacks (4.67 per game) for the long haul.

But it was nice while it lasted. And this Aggie team, once it matures, has the potential to be a factor in future Big 12 title races. Maybe next season. More likely in 2011. Just not this year.

Too many ill-timed mistakes still surface. Among the laundry list that proved deadly were:

A penalty-filled performance (8 for 87 yards), coupled with lots of protection problems against a pass rush that recorded two sacks and kept A&M quarterback Jerrod Johnson (30-of-58) out of his comfort zone.

Ken Wood’s 5-yard punt, setting up a short-field touchdown drive for the Razorbacks.

A dropped pass by receiver Ryan Tannehill for what would have been a walk-in touchdown to extend a 10-7 lead.

An inability to cash in on two first-half turnovers by the Razorbacks, both of which gave the Aggies possession in Arkansas territory.

Two turnovers by an A&M offense that had only one in its first three games.

A pivotal lost fumble by Johnson that turned into an 85-yard touchdown return for Arkansas’ Jerry Franklin, stretching a 14-10 lead to 21-10 and swinging the momentum in the Hogs’ direction for keeps.

Suddenly, the Aggies’ fast start was a distant memory.

"We had an opportunity to take a significant lead, which we didn’t do," Sherman said. "Good football teams take that lead and don’t relinquish it. We didn’t do that."

Not by a long shot. Although the Aggies generated an early pass rush with a pair of first-quarter sacks, it disappeared as soon as Arkansas made some blocking adjustments. Quarterback Ryan Mallett took advantage by tossing touchdown passes to four different receivers.

Meanwhile, Johnson was running for his life behind an offensive line that tried eight different players in an effort to keep his jersey clean. None of the combinations worked for long, lending ominous overtones to the weeks ahead.

"It was tough," Johnson said, summing up his night. "We knew going in, their strength was in the defensive line ... But we had our chances. When you don’t make plays when big plays are there, that’s how you lose ball games. We definitely left some points on the field."

No doubt. Just not enough to account for the 28-point margin of victory. Asked if the stage proved too big for himself and his fellow freshmen, A&M linebacker Kyle Mangan said, "No, I don’t think it was that. We came out fired up ... but we just lost our focus a little bit when we got up. We should have buried them, but we didn’t execute."

Lack of focus. Failure to execute. They’re all signs of a young team in the midst of growing pains.

That’s what A&M is, and will continue to be, as the season unfolds. After three weeks of sparkling-but-empty statistics, Saturday’s reality check from Arkansas drove home that point. Loud and clear.

Jimmy Burch, 817-390-7760

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