ARLINGTON, Texas -- At halftime of the Southwest Classic, Arkansas' athletic director and president exchanged commemorative footballs with their Texas A&M counterparts. It was symbolic and fitting, as the two former Southwest Conference rivals were playing their final non-conference game of the series.A&M's move to the SEC was the predominant theme of the game coming into Saturday afternoon's game at Cowboys Stadium, with the exchange of footballs showing just how close the two schools will become in 2012. On the field, both teams did the same and showed how close they were in 2011. And how far they were from contenting for a conference title - Big 12 or SEC.
Texas A&M raced out to a 404-yard, 35 point first half led by Christine Michael's three touchdown runs, much like they did last week against Oklahoma State. And just as they did last week, when they blew a 17 point lead at halftime, the Aggies did it again. Only this time it was 18 points as they came up short of beating an SEC team for first time since 1995, losing to Arkansas 42-38. The Aggies have lost 6 straight to SEC teams.
Quarterback Tyler Wilson took a shot from an Aggie defender after nearly every play but turned in a gutsy, school record setting performance, throwing for 510 yards and three touchdowns to go with a crucial two-point conversion to tie the game late. It's hard to be more sore after playing Alabama's defense but he will have to hit the ice bath immediately upon arriving back in Fayetteville. His counterpart Ryan Tannehill, meanwhile, was barely touched on the evening by an Arkansas defense that was missing several starters on the defensive line and secondary.
Make no bones about it, Texas A&M collapsed - again - and there's no excuse for this one. As their first unofficial, official SEC conference game, they were embarrassed. As the sign on the jumbotron said after Arkansas took the lead for the final time, 'Welcome to the SEC.'
