Week 5 of the 2026 college football season brings Arkansas and Texas A&M back into the spotlight, and the Southwest Classic carries plenty of history with it as the Razorbacks head to Kyle Field for their first trip there since 2020.
Arkansas arrives off a 34-6 win over Tulsa on Saturday night and will be trying to shake off a long run of frustration against the Aggies. Texas A&M, meanwhile, is coming off back-to-back setbacks, a 31-21 home loss to Kentucky two Saturdays ago followed by a 35-6 loss at LSU in Baton Rouge. With both teams still searching for their first conference win of the season, the matchup in College Station has a little extra edge.
The all-time series leans Arkansas’ way at 42-37-3, but the recent stretch belongs to Texas A&M. The Razorbacks will also be trying to avoid their 14th loss in their last 15 games against the Maroon and White.
This rivalry started more than a century ago, with the first meeting coming in Houston on Halloween in 1903. Texas A&M won that one 6-0.
Arkansas answered seven years later with a 5-0 win in Fayetteville, its first victory in the series. The Aggies took the next matchup in 1912, 27-0, before the teams waited 15 years to meet again, when Texas A&M rolled 40-6 at Kyle Field.
From there, the rivalry settled into an annual rhythm, with games in College Station, Fayetteville and sometimes Little Rock. Between 1928 and 1943, the teams traded runs of dominance, each side putting together six straight wins, with a tie in 1934 not counted in that stretch.
Arkansas had one of its best eras against A&M from 1958 to 1966, ripping off nine straight wins and outscoring the Aggies 82-0 in the final three games of that run. The Razorbacks also put together a six-game streak from 1977 to 1982.
The series kept rolling until Arkansas left the Southwestern Conference for the SEC after the 1991 season. Texas A&M won the final meeting before that break, a 13-3 home victory in November of 1991.
The rivalry came back to life in March 2008, when officials from both schools announced the series would return under the name the Southwest Classic and be played at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. That setup gave Dallas Cowboys owner and Arkansas alumnus Jerry Jones a chance to see his alma mater in person every year.
The first game of the revived rivalry was played on October 3, 2009, and Arkansas won 47-19. The Razorbacks repeated that result in the next two meetings as well.
But after Texas A&M joined the SEC in July of 2012, the balance flipped for good. Since then, it has been all Aggies.
A&M won the 2012 and 2013 games after the series moved between College Station and Fayetteville, then the matchup shifted back to Arlington. The Aggies won seven more straight there, including a 50-43 overtime game in 2017. Their nine-game winning streak from 2012 to 2020 is the longest in the history of the rivalry.
Arkansas finally broke through in 2021, beating Texas A&M 20-10 in Arlington for its first win over the Aggies since they joined the conference and the Razorbacks’ fourth win there in front of Jones. Texas A&M responded with a 23-21 escape in 2022, helped by Cam Little’s doinked field goal late in the game, and then won the next two meetings as well in what turned out to be the final games at the Cowboys’ home stadium.
In 2025, the rivalry shifted back to the schools’ campuses. It was also announced later that Arkansas and Texas A&M would no longer meet every year, since neither school was listed among the other’s three protected opponents. Instead, both were given Missouri, LSU and Texas.
Last season’s game in Fayetteville gave Arkansas a shot at a then-undefeated No. 4 Texas A&M team.
The Razorbacks trailed 21-20 at halftime after scoring two touchdowns in two minutes, then stayed alive behind Taylen Green. He ran for a one-yard touchdown and threw a score to Jaden Platt to keep the Aggies within a field goal.
But Rueben Owens answered with a late touchdown run to put Texas A&M ahead by 10 with just under six minutes left. Green hit CJ Brown for a four-yard touchdown with 10 seconds remaining, but Arkansas couldn’t recover the onside kick, and Marcel Reed knelt out the clock in a 45-42 Aggies win.
That game produced 1,024 combined yards and 11 touchdowns. Now the Razorbacks head back to College Station looking to flip the script in a primetime showdown at Kyle Field.
In Other News...
Arkansas Depth Chart Sends A Clear Message Before Texas A&M
Arkansas Week 5 depth chart offered a fairly straightforward snapshot as the Razorbacks turn their attention to Texas A&M, with KJ Jackson staying locked in at quarterback and Sutton Smith still listed as the lead back. Even with that stability, there is at least one backfield wrinkle worth watching, because Cam Settles has picked up more carries lately and is beginning to carve out a larger role as the offense gets deeper into conference play.
The rest of the chart fills in the picture across both sides of the ball, laying out where the staff currently sees its first-string options and how the rotation is taking shape. For Arkansas, the release is less about surprises than it is about clarity, but these weekly listings can also hint at where competition is still alive and where the coaches are comfortable leaving things alone heading into a tougher SEC test. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Has A Real Opening In Texas A&Ms Biggest Weakness
Arkansas heads into its Week 5 matchup with Texas A&M at 2-2, and the timing is interesting after the Razorbacks bounced back with a solid win over Tulsa. There were still some rough edges for KJ Jackson, but the quarterback did show improvement, and that matters as Arkansas looks for signs it can carry momentum into a conference game against a team that just took a loss to LSU.
Marcel Reed has been the bigger concern on the other sideline, with his recent struggles putting Texas A&Ms offense under a brighter spotlight than usual. Mike Elko has already said Reed will remain the starter against Arkansas, which sets up a clear point of attention in a matchup between two teams trying to find some traction early in the season. For Arkansas, the opening is there if its defense can force the issue and keep Reed uncomfortable. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Heads To Kyle Field With One Big Offense Question
Arkansas heads to Kyle Field for an SEC matchup that should tell a lot about where the Razorbacks stand after a mixed start, with both teams sitting at 2-2 and coming off conference losses. It is the kind of early-season league game that can nudge a team back into the picture or leave it scrambling to recover, and the on-campus setting only adds to the feel that this one matters a little more than a typical September road trip.
For Arkansas, the larger concern is on offense, where the search for consistency has been the storyline even as the defense has tried to keep things manageable. Texas A&M brings a defense that will force the Razorbacks to prove they can move the ball cleanly and finish drives, and the answer to that question may say plenty about how competitive Arkansas can be as SEC play settles in. [Read more 🡒]