Razorbacks rally from 18 down to beat Aggies 42-38

Tyler Wilson threw for a school-record 510 yards, Jarius Wright caught 13 passes for a school-record 281 yards and the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks turned an 18-point halftime deficit into a 42-38 victory on Saturday, giving the No. 14 Aggies a rude preview of life in their new conference.

“We played in the second half with a tremendous amount of heart, competitive spirit, toughness,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. “It was a really good win.”

Texas A&M scored five touchdowns in the first half, all on the ground against a defense that had allowed only a single rushing touchdown over four previous games. The Razorbacks snapped back to form in the second half, yielding only a field goal, albeit one that gave the Aggies a 38-35 lead with 4:22 left.

Then Broderick Green ran 3 yards for a touchdown with 1:41 left to put Arkansas (4-1) ahead for the first time. One defensive stand later, the celebrations broke out among the Hogs’ half of the 69,838 fans, further punctuated with chants of, “S-E-C! S-E-C!”

Meanwhile, the Aggies (2-2) and their fans were forced to accept a second straight agonizing defeat.

Just a week before, they gave up a 17-point halftime lead at home to a member of the Big 12, the conference they’re leaving behind. Now, they’ve blown an even bigger lead to a team from the conference they just announced they’re joining. It’s a 1-2 punch that has taken them from No. 8 and the cusp of the national title chase to likely the back end of the top 25 and sinking in the conference race.

“We’ll have some heart-to-hearts this week, particularly on Monday, about which direction we’re going to go and make sure that what happened today doesn’t happen again,” Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman said.

The Aggies have dropped seven straight games to SEC teams, dating to 1995, or back when they were in the Southwest Conference. That makes them 0-for-the-Big-12-era against teams from their new league.

“I don’t put a whole lot of stock into all that stuff,” Sherman said. “We’re in the Big 12 right now and we need to win in the Big 12. We’re focusing more on this season. We’ll worry about next season, next season, when we are in that conference.”

Wilson shattered the school passing record of 409 set by Ryan Mallett against Vanderbilt last season. He was 30 of 51 with three touchdowns, including a pinpoint 68-yarder to Wright. He also ran for a 2-point conversion that tied the game 35-35, and led the nine-play, 80-yard drive for the winning touchdown.

Most of all, Wilson guided Arkansas to points on four of six second-half drives before the kneel-down at the end.