Some annual college football conference games are nothing more than that: conference games. They merely exist, and nothing more.
Illinois versus Purdue is a conference game.
AND? What’s your point?
Exactly.
Other conference games are can’t-miss blockbusters each year — some over a period of decades (The Iron Bowl, Michigan-Ohio State, USC-UCLA), and some within smaller stretches of time (Florida State-Clemson, Oregon-Stanford, and Baylor-TCU in the present moment).
For many other conference games, it all depends on the circumstances, and in many cases, these conference games offer a great way to measure the progress of programs — or a lack thereof — from year to year.
A representative example of this is Texas A&M versus Arkansas, the new SEC clash which takes place in Arlington, Texas, each year. Where these teams were a year ago — and what happened when they last met — form the backdrop to their 2015 reunion this weekend.
*
In late September, college football followers — fans and pundits alike — are trying to figure out the identities of various teams. Where are they headed? How likely are they to maintain their present course over the remaining two months of the regular season? We all have our thoughts and leanings in relationship to Arkansas and Texas A&M this year, but let’s recall where we were (in terms of our thought processes and evaluations) last year, when the Hogs and Aggies met on the gridiron.
Texas A&M was still viewed as a big deal, not too far removed from its obliteration of South Carolina on opening night in 2014. Kenny Hill was still riding tall in the saddle. Arkansas was a team full of hope, but the Razorbacks were in a rebuilding year, just beginning to attempt to climb the steep mountain known as the SEC West.
After roughly 50 minutes, everything we thought we knew about Texas A&M had been dashed to pieces. Arkansas outplayed and outcoached A&M in those 50 minutes, taking a 28-14 lead into the early stages of the fourth quarter. The Hogs were better, but they needed a fake kick to score one of their touchdowns. A&M fans had reason to think that their team’s mistakes were more central to the scoreboard reality than anything Arkansas did well. Razorback fans saw how their team was winning the battle up front, and thereby established superiority.
Then, however, the tide turned. An Arkansas defensive back fell down, enabling A&M to get the quick-strike touchdown it desperately needed. The Aggies hit back with big plays to tie the score at 28, and A&M even had a chance to win late in regulation. The Hogs stiffened to force overtime, so on one level, they had to be relieved. However, Arkansas missed a field goal late in the fourth quarter which would have sealed the win. Texas A&M tied the game shortly after the miss, and subsequently threatened to steal the game late in regulation.
In the overtime, Texas A&M — after 60 minutes in which it found itself competing against the run of play — pulled out the victory. Arkansas — 3-9 in 2013 and, as you could imagine, winless in one-score games that season — continued its tendency to lose one-score games in 2014. In many ways, last year’s A&M-Arkansas game left fans and writers with more questions about each team, not fewer.
The rest of the 2014 season did indeed show that neither team benefited from this game. A&M’s weaknesses — first exposed by Arkansas — were then exploited to much greater effect by other SEC West teams. The Aggies went downhill after that win, not to a higher elevation. Arkansas, on the other hand, didn’t gain from its noble loss. The Hogs still haven’t won a one-score game since that point in time.
It’s all very counterintuitive and complicated: One easily could have thought that Arkansas would take encouragement from a game in which it played better — and came closer to winning — than most people expected. Usually, when that happens with a relatively young team, good things follow. Not so for Arkansas.
As for A&M, when a talented team digs out a win in a game when it doesn’t play well, that often leads to a big season. Yet, it just didn’t happen for the Aggies. Everything you thought you knew about these teams before last year’s game, and many things you thought might happen after last year’s game, didn’t materialize.
It all leads to the question: What about this year?
Will Arkansas get the turnaround it couldn’t achieve last year? Will Texas A&M consolidate a good start to its season by playing at a much higher level against Arkansas than it did a year ago?
Will Bret Bielema finally be able to win a one-score game? He needs to (as the Europeans say) “break that duck” sooner rather than later.
Will Kevin Sumlin realize that John Chavis was his missing (and needed) piece in College Station all along?
We can’t wait to find out the answers to these questions… keeping in mind that if 2014 is any indication, the 2015 edition of A&M-Arkansas might not give us clear answers when it’s all said and done.
