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Early on this seemed like it was going to be like every other Arkansas game since 2013—with no team giving an inch and destined for a last minute finish. Then somehow A&M found its groove and managed to score 28 straight points to put the game away. This team is good...really good. Here are 5 quick thoughts:
1) REDZONE DEFENSE
What was it...two goal line stands where we stuffed them? They had the ball 6 inches from the goal line and we stopped them? John Chavis is worth every single cent that he is paid and then some. And the interior of our line is just phenomenal. Outstanding effort by the defense.
2) RUSH DEFENSE
In 2014 we gave up 285 rushing yards. In 2015 we gave up 232 rushing yards. Tonight? 120 total rushing yards to a stable of really good running backs. Like I said in point #1, this defense is for real and seems to have taken the whole “not good against the run” critique to heart.
3) RUSH OFFENSE
The thought goes that in order to win in the SEC you have to stop the run and run the ball. Tonight we did the first and we nailed the latter. Knight had 157 yards, Williams had 153. We rushed for a total of 366 yards tonight. To put that into perspective, last year we rushed for 65 total. 300 more yards. That’s just insane.
4) TREVOR
Trevor started off slow tonight and struggled early. But as with every week he did enough to get the win. Whether it was running for 150+ or hitting key passes to Reynolds or RSJ, he did what it took to get the win. I actually kind of like Sumlin’s response to folks asking about Knight’s key stats—wins. He’s leading this team to good solid wins.
5) 5 IN A ROW AGAINST ARKANSAS
We’ve now beaten the hogs 5 times in a row. We’ve beaten then with 4 different QBs, 4 Different OCs, and 2 different DCs. Arkansas is a good football team. Allen is a really good QB. Bert is a good coach. But somehow Sumlin has beaten them 5 straight. That’s ridiculous
OVERALL
This game didn’t come without a cost—we’ve got a few key injuries that could affect us down the road. But bottom line is that we got a big time win against a top 20 opponent. This team is pretty dang good y’all. Pretty pretty good.
BTHO south carolina