FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas is climbing the polls after improving to 3-0 with Saturday's 42-3 throttling of Texas State.
The Razorbacks moved up seven spots to No. 17 in the Associated Press top 25 poll and four spots to No. 20 in the USA Today coaches poll. Arkansas holds its highest AP poll position since the 2012 team was No. 8 before a 34-31 upset loss in overtime to Louisiana-Monroe in week 2.
Texas A&M, Arkansas' next opponent (8 p.m. Saturday) shot up seven spots to No. 10 in the AP poll after defeating Auburn 29-16 on the road on Saturday. The Aggies are No. 13, also up seven spots, in the USA Today coaches poll.
The last time Arkansas and Texas A&M met as ranked teams was on Oct. 1, 2011.
No. 18 Arkansas rallied from a 35-17 halftime deficit behind a school-record 510 passing yards from Tyler Wilson to defeat the No. 14 Aggies 42-38. That also stands as Arkansas' last victory over the Aggies.
Arkansas made its first appearance in the Football Writers Association of America Super 16 poll at No. 16. The Hogs were ranked as high as No. 10 on four ballots in that poll.
OL shuffle
The Arkansas coaching staff tinkered with the offensive line during Saturday's game when moving Frank Ragnow from center to right guard and doing the opposite with Jake Raulerson.
"Frank's probably our best center, guard or right tackle, wherever we play him," Coach Bret Bielema said. "We put him at guard. We thought that gave us the best chance for him to kind of help the guys next to him. I like the way that happened out there today."
Backups Brian Wallace and Zach Rogers received their most extensive playing time of the season at right tackle and center, respectively.
"I think it went good," Ragnow said. "It was a good week to test that out and see how everybody felt at their new positions, how the chemistry of the whole offensive line went."
Ragnow said Raulerson and Rogers performed well snapping the ball and giving line calls.
"There were a couple of times I had to remind them of some things, and there's a couple of times I had to hold back. It's like I want to make all the center calls but I can't," Ragnow said.
10-minute 4th
Arkansas and Texas State officials agreed on reducing the fourth quarter by five minutes in order to finish the game before the potential for severe weather arrived in Fayetteville. The storm, which looked substantial on radar, appeared to break up and did not bring violent weather.
"They came to us at halftime and said there might be some weather moving in about 9:30," Bret Bielema said. "That weather that rolled through [Friday] was pretty dangerous. That's when we had the discussion at the end of halftime."
Arkansas' last shortened game was a 49-7 victory over Kentucky on Oct. 13, 2012, the second-to-last victory for interim Coach John L. Smith.
Aggie revival
Arkansas holds a 41-28-3 lead in the series against Texas A&M, including a 3-2 edge in games played in Arlington, Texas, the site of Saturday's 8 p.m. game.
The Aggies (3-0) have won the past four games in the series, including the past two that ended in overtime at AT&T Stadium: 35-28 in 2014 and 28-21 in 2015
Punt particulars
Toby Baker's punting average dropped from 49.4 yards per attempt to 47.8 yards after his two kicks from Saturday night's game were figured in.
One of Baker's punts, fair caught at the Texas State 17, went for 30 yards. The other punt traveled 50 yards. Baker falls from No. 3 to No. 5 in the nation in punting average.
Redshirt freshman Blake Johnson took advantage of his first game action with two punts for a 47-yard average. Arkansas moved up to No. 10 in the country in net punting (42.5).
No 'Nation'
The SEC Nation, the weekly traveling pregame show on the SEC Network, has selected the LSU-Auburn game as its destination for Saturday, turning down a shot to feature the meeting between No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 17 Arkansas in Arlington, Texas. LSU is ranked 18th, and Auburn is unranked.
No 'Gameday'
ESPN will set up its "GameDay" traveling pregame show in Knoxville, Tenn., for the SEC East showdown between No.14 Tennessee and No. 19 Florida on Saturday.
Late start
Arkansas and Tennessee are the two SEC teams who have yet to play a conference game. The Razorbacks (3-0) and Volunteers (3-0) open conference play with key division games on Saturday. Mississippi State and South Carolina, both 1-1 in league play, are the only SEC teams to have played two conference games.
Hold the ball
Arkansas slipped to No. 13 in the country in time of possession with an average of 34:46 per game. The Razorbacks' standing in that category was affected by the decision to play a 10-minute fourth quarter rather than the standard 15 minutes, due to the possibility of severe weather.
Arkansas is second in the SEC in time of possession, behind Florida (35:13).
Kickoff advance
Connor Limpert had touchbacks on three of his seven kickoffs against Texas State and put one kickoff out of bounds. The Bobcats averaged 17.7 yards on the three kickoffs Limpert put into play. Arkansas lowered its national ranking in kick return defense from No. 120 (29.9 yards after TCU) to No. 116 (26.6 yards after Texas State).
Kickoff retreat
Arkansas did not block well on kickoff returns, and Dominique Reed twice had to dodge defenders inside the 20-yard line. Reed averaged 13 yards on his two returns, going from the 5 to the 18 on both of his returns.
The Razorbacks rank No. 100 in the FBS with an average of 18.13 yards per kickoff return.
Players of the week
Offense
RB Rawleigh Williams
• Williams, a sophomore from Dallas, rushed for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries. Williams scored on runs of 1 and 15 yards.
Defense
DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
CB Ryan Pulley
• Ledbetter, of Orlando, Fla., had 4 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2 pass breakups. Pulley, of Fort Myers, Fla., returned an interception for a 25-yard touchdown and had three tackles.
Sports on 09/19/2016