FAYETTEVILLE -- The No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks trailed No. 14 Texas A&M, their soon-to-be conference rival, by 18 points at halftime in the third renewal of the old Southwest Conference rivalry at Cowboys Stadium on Oct. 1, 2011.
The Razorbacks' defense could not stop the Aggies' ground game, led by running backs Christine Michael and Cyrus Gray, and the offense had trouble dealing with A&M's blitz package.
WHY THE GAME MATTERS
Tyler Wilson passed for 510 yards, breaking the school record by 101 yards, and Jarius Wright had a school-record 281 receiving yards. The Hogs’ comeback from an 18-point halftime deficit is one of the largest in school history.
But a defensive tweak suggested by Coach Bobby Petrino and a quicker offensive tempo helped the Razorbacks turn their 35-17 halftime deficit around and go on a record-setting splurge in the process.
In the end, the chants of "SEC! SEC!" from Arkansas fans had to be painful to the Aggies, whose move to the SEC became official on Sept. 26, the week before the game.
Junior quarterback Tyler Wilson passed for 510 yards, surpassing Ryan Mallett's mark of 409 yards, set one year earlier against Vanderbilt.
Senior receiver Jarius Wright roamed free in the middle of the Aggies' defense, tying a school record with 13 catches for a record-setting 281 yards, surpassing Mike Reppond's 40-year-old Arkansas mark by 77 yards.
Afterward, Wright said the Hogs formulated their plan after watching film of A&M.
"We saw they left the middle open a lot, and we made them pay," Wright said.
Arkansas receiver Cobi Hamilton said A&M had no answer for Wright.
"They weren't athletic or fast enough to keep up with Jay down the middle of the field," Hamilton said.
Wright tied Arkansas' single-game receiving record with 204 yards at halftime, but the biggest Hog fireworks were still to come after the Aggies controlled the opening 30 minutes.
Michael and Gray combined for five rushing touchdowns in the first half, and the Aggies scored on drives covering 79, 71, 54, 84 and 82 yards. Texas A&M had 404 total yards by halftime, taking advantage of cutback lanes time after time against a Razorbacks front missing starting ends Jake Bequette and Tank Wright due to injuries.
The Razorbacks had given up one rushing touchdown in the previous four games.
At halftime, Petrino told defensive coordinator Willy Robinson to widen the alignment of the Razorbacks' defensive ends, and the cutbacks dried up.
Offensively, Wilson and the Hogs took a different approach after Texas A&M set the early tone.
"We just said we're going to spread it out," Wilson said. "We've got the best receivers in the country."
Wilson said Texas A&M Coach Mike Sherman, a former head coach with the Green Bay Packers, "tried to blitz the heck out of you" and the Aggies did to good effect in the opening half.
"Petrino's thought was you get to the line of scrimmage and see what blitz they're bringing and try to check out of the play you've got called," Wilson said. "I think they were taking a play out of Alabama's playbook and mixing up their blitzes.
"They were showing it on one side and as soon as we checked, they'd check out of what they had and they'd bring it on the other side, so it became a cat-and-mouse game. We'd get to the line of scrimmage and they'd try to bait you into changing the play, and before you know it, you're looking down at your wrist band and you've got a delay of game because we keep changing plays."
Wilson said late in the first quarter the Hogs realized they could not keep playing that audible game and changed offensive tactics to negate A&M's plan.
"We said all right, we're going to challenge Tyler and see what he can do, spread these guys out and avoid some of the blitzing that's going on ... because we're spreading them out and we're going fast," Wilson said.
The Razorbacks got a Zach Hocker field goal and Wilson's 13-yard touchdown pass to Ronnie Wingo on their first two possessions of the second half to climb with 35-27.
Wilson drove Arkansas 86 yards early in the fourth quarter and the Hogs scored when Wright recovered a Hamilton fumble in the end zone after a 15-yard catch and run.
"I remember fumbling in that game and he saved my ass," Hamilton said. "I remember that. That was his lucky day."
Wright said at the time, "I was over there trying to get a block for Cobi. I saw the ball squirt out and when I saw that, I had it in my head that I had to get the ball."
Wilson's 2-point conversion run tied the game at 35-35.
The Aggies regained the lead on Randy Bullock's 23-yard field goal with 4:22 remaining.
Wilson's 31-yard completion to Wright sparked Arkansas' winning drive, capped by Broderick Green's 3-yard touchdown run with 1:41 left.
Texas A&M's final drive ended when Arkansas linebacker Alonzo Highsmith stuffed Michael for no gain on fourth and 1 from the Agggies' 39. Penetration by defensive linemen D.D. Jones, Byran Jones and Zach Stadther clogged the intended hole, stymied Michael and allowed Highsmith to make the game-clinching tackle.
Wilson said the big comeback stands as his favorite Razorbacks memory.
"One, we won the football game, and then the 510 yards, which is a school record and I think it'll hold for a good while," Wilson said.
"I would say there was a point in that football game that I didn't know if I was going to continue being the starting quarterback at Arkansas. That's crazy to think about the year you win 11 games. But there was a point at which the season could have gone a completely different direction.
"You go back 30 years or 40 years and the most successful of all those years the quarterback that was on that team feels like he might not have been the quarterback had one more snap gone wrong against Texas A&M, and you win the game."
Wilson said the victory over Texas A&M should be a top exhibit in cementing Petrino's reputation as a master play caller.
"That was probably the most beautifully called game in the second half that I can remember playing under Petrino because it was all there," Wilson said.
"I just remember kind of being in the zone, being in a fog and finding ways to complete balls to athletic guys, whether it was deep throws, intermediate throws or short throws. There's probably more throws in that football game that if you're creating a highlight clip of Bobby Petrino's offense, I mean you could make a case that that game is the one you pull up and try to showcase quarterback play."
The Razorbacks improved to 4-1 with the victory, which started a seven-game winning streak during which Arkansas averaged 39.6 points per game.
Arkansas hasn't defeated Texas A&M since, but at the time the Razorbacks' victory extended the Aggies' streak of losses against SEC schools to seven games, dating to 1995.
Sherman's exit from College Station, Texas, was likely hastened by consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and Arkansas when the Aggies held 17-point leads. He was let go at season's end with a 6-6 record in 2011 and a 25-25 record in four seasons and replaced by current Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin.
Sports on 06/11/2017