Hogs crack Top 20, eye No. 10 A&M
FAYETTEVILLE - According to the Associated Press and Amway Coaches college football polls, the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies are rising stars on a collision course Saturday night at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Cracking the Top 25 in both polls last week after beating then No. 15 TCU in double overtime, Coach Bret Bielema’s Razorbacks, 42-3 victors over Texas State Saturday night, jumped to 17th in Sunday’s new AP poll and 18th in Sunday’s new Coaches poll.
Arkansas (3–0) plays its SEC opener in the 8 p.m. ESPN televised game while A&M (3-0) won its SEC opener 29-16 at Auburn.
Coach Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies, 17th and 20th in last week’s AP and Coaches polls, vaulted to 10th in the AP and 13th in the Coaches poll adding the victory over Auburn to 31-24 and 67-0 victories over then 16th-ranked UCLA and outmanned Prairie View A&M.
Old Southwest Conference rivals until Arkansas left the since defunct league for the SEC in 1991, A&M, then in the Big 12, annually renewed their rivalry non-conference in 2009 at the Southwest Classic at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium.
Arkansas won the first three renewals, all non-conference, but since the Aggies joined the SEC West with Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU in 2012, A&M has won all four league games, home and home at A&M’s Kyle Field and Arkansas’ Reynolds Razorback Stadium in 2012 and 2013, and in overtime the last two years at AT&T Stadium.
“Our guys, they’ve been defined by where they’ve been,” Bielema said in Saturday’s postgame about the A&M game. “Obviously, that game has been a heartbreaker for us. But it’s a new team and a new opportunity. A&M is a really good football team, probably much improved from where they were a year ago as well. I’m excited to see where we’re at in SEC play. To open up SEC play, I don’t think we could ask for anything better.”
Cracking the Top 25 in both polls last week after beating then No. 15 TCU in double overtime, Coach Bret Bielema’s Razorbacks, 42-3 victors over Texas State Saturday night, jumped to 17th in Sunday’s new AP poll and 18th in Sunday’s new Coaches poll.
Arkansas (3–0) plays its SEC opener in the 8 p.m. ESPN televised game while A&M (3-0) won its SEC opener 29-16 at Auburn.
Coach Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies, 17th and 20th in last week’s AP and Coaches polls, vaulted to 10th in the AP and 13th in the Coaches poll adding the victory over Auburn to 31-24 and 67-0 victories over then 16th-ranked UCLA and outmanned Prairie View A&M.
Old Southwest Conference rivals until Arkansas left the since defunct league for the SEC in 1991, A&M, then in the Big 12, annually renewed their rivalry non-conference in 2009 at the Southwest Classic at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium.
Arkansas won the first three renewals, all non-conference, but since the Aggies joined the SEC West with Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU in 2012, A&M has won all four league games, home and home at A&M’s Kyle Field and Arkansas’ Reynolds Razorback Stadium in 2012 and 2013, and in overtime the last two years at AT&T Stadium.
“Our guys, they’ve been defined by where they’ve been,” Bielema said in Saturday’s postgame about the A&M game. “Obviously, that game has been a heartbreaker for us. But it’s a new team and a new opportunity. A&M is a really good football team, probably much improved from where they were a year ago as well. I’m excited to see where we’re at in SEC play. To open up SEC play, I don’t think we could ask for anything better.”
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