Arkansas heads to College Station on Saturday night with the kind of challenge that can expose every weak spot fast.
The Razorbacks come in off a 34-6 win over Tulsa, but that result gets parked in the rearview almost immediately with Texas A&M waiting in SEC play. The Aggies have dropped back-to-back games and are suddenly dealing with more questions than they had when the season opened with College Football Playoff buzz and a Heisman-caliber quarterback.
Even with those losses, Texas A&M still has plenty of talent to work with. The issue is that it has not all come together. Under Mike Elko, the Aggies had lost just one September or October game since he arrived in 2024 before Kentucky and LSU beat them in consecutive weeks.
There are still several individual matchups that could swing this one, and Arkansas will need to be sharp across the board if it wants its first SEC win of the Ryan Silverfield era.
One of the most important names is cornerback Ricks, a former 5-star recruit who has already made life miserable for Arkansas once. He sealed the 2024 game in Arlington with an interception of Taylen Green, and that remains the only interception he has forced in his college career. He’ll be tested again, likely with Arkansas wide receiver Chris Marshall across from him.
Marshall is currently leading the SEC in receiving and has become Arkansas’ biggest threat through the air. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he brings the size and physical edge to stress a defense on the boundary, while Ricks checks in at 6-foot-1 and 193 pounds. That’s the kind of matchup that can tilt a game if it starts going one way early.
Texas A&M’s passing game also runs through receiver Craver, who has been one of the most reliable pieces on the roster since joining the program last season. He has caught a pass in every game he has played for the Aggies, stretching his streak to 17 straight games with a reception. His 22 catches tie him for fifth in the SEC and 38th nationally, and he has turned them into 225 yards and two touchdowns.
Craver hasn’t piled up huge downfield numbers this season, but that’s not really his game. What makes him dangerous is what happens after the catch.
He can take a short throw and turn it into a much bigger gain, and with 17 straight games of production behind him, he enters Saturday as Texas A&M’s most targeted receiver. His speed gives Marcel Reed a weapon Arkansas defensive coordinator Ron Roberts has to account for on every snap.
On the defensive side, linebacker Mikhail is another player Arkansas has to know. A former 4-star prospect from La Verne, Calif., he was heavily recruited by Arkansas and chose Texas A&M over Alabama, Oregon, USC, Florida State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Ohio State and others. The 6-foot-2, 223-pound sophomore leads the Aggies with 23 total tackles, including nine solo stops.
Mikhail got his first career start against Missouri State and has stayed in the rotation ever since, especially with Daymion Sanford still working back from a spring injury over the last three games. He has given Texas A&M steady depth and enough playmaking to matter in the middle of the defense.
Then there’s Owens, who gave Arkansas headaches a year ago. In Fayetteville last season, he piled up 96 yards and two touchdowns against the Razorbacks, and he’s the kind of back who can make a defense pay if it loses discipline at the line.
He rushed for 639 yards and five touchdowns last season, but this year has looked different. Even so, this matchup gives him a chance to get rolling again.
Arkansas has had trouble stopping the run on a consistent basis, allowing more than 124 yards per game, which ranks No. 66 nationally. Two weeks ago against Georgia, the Razorbacks were unable to set the edges and got gashed for 254 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Arkansas has tried to tighten things up, but with Texas A&M’s speed and the pieces it can throw at you, this feels like a tough week for that work to show up on the scoreboard.
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Arkansas is the kind of opponent that can expose problems quickly if they are still lingering, which is why this feels less like a midseason bump and more like an early test of whether Texas A&M can stop the slide. The Aggies have enough statistical warning signs to justify the concern, and the details point to a team that cannot afford another uneven performance. The bigger question is whether the issues showing up in the numbers translate into fixes on game day, because if they do not, the schedule is only going to get less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]