How the Texas A&M Aggies fought to ultimately win the Southwest Classic

ARLINGTON, Texas — The loudest moment to hit AT&T Stadium all Saturday night came on the Arkansas Razorbacks’ final possession.

With the crowd evenly divided – the Razorbacks to the right of Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green and the Texas A&M Aggies to the left – it seemed as if each half of the stadium was taking turns excited.

If Arkansas scored, the stadium would fill with screams of “Woo Pig.” If a penalty was called or not, the hisses did the same. The latter, in particular, seemed to happen quite often, much to the chagrin of Aggies coach Mike Elko, who was talking to the officials throughout the game.

Arkansas brought home. It was loud, but not loud enough.

“Coach Tony (Jerod-Eddie) was slapping the hell out of us and telling us to go get the sack,” Aggies defensive lineman Nic Scourton said of the attitude before the final possession. “That’s all. We had to hurry. This is what you dream of as a D-line player.”

With less than three minutes left, the Razorbacks were down by four. They needed a touchdown to end their terrible losing streak in Arlington, but with Scourton’s defensive line once again applying pressure, it proved to be a near-impossible task.

Especially since they already have the initial emotions related to the game in the back of their minds.

“There was a lot of frustration,” Scourton said, referring to the missed sack that set up a 75-yard touchdown for Arkansas on the third play of the game. “We were excited. … Obviously, with three guys around us, we have to play that way.

– Something like this can’t happen.

Green seemed to have an answer for every ounce of pressure Aggie put on him initially. When he wasn’t connecting with his receivers, he was extending the play or running away from the offense. And when things didn’t work in his favor, he was rewarded with more falls with penalties and even tricks.

That’s what the Aggies were missing early on. Sure, the offense needed to step up, but the defense took on the responsibility of giving Marcel Reed and the team as many opportunities as possible.

The defense put the burden of the game on us,” Scourton explained. “That was what it was all about: getting our guys up, telling the linebackers and the basemen that it was our fault, and (that) we were going to go out and get the quarterback. ”

Scourton did the job on his own twice – once with one hand to add insult to injury – and forced a fumble that ultimately won the game for Texas A&M.

He could only admit to being a Dallas Cowboys fan in front of his dad, so for the sake of argument, he had to play a key role in the Aggies’ final game at AT&T Stadium and celebrate With Jerry Jones.

But he wasn’t the only Aggie who left his mark in Saturday’s competition.

Mike Elko cannot emphasize this enough.

The Aggies have a lot of weapons lined up under center. They don’t want to pigeonhole themselves into thinking it’s Conner Weigman and a couple of backups; rather Weigman, Reed and Jaylen Henderson.

He even made sure to correct me for not including that last one initially.

“You could throw Jaylen Henderson into it,” Elko said when asked about Reed and Weigman’s weekly preparation. “He’s always ready to play if we need him too (and) I keep saying that… we have three point guards that we trust can go out and play.

“Today was Marcel’s match and he had to go out and win it for us.”

If the game was in Reed’s hands, it didn’t look like he would be able to keep it going through the middle of the second quarter and beyond – except for the decisive drive he led early in the fourth quarter.

He rushed for a touchdown in the second half and tied the Razorbacks’ score just before halftime, but both times there seemed to be a glimmer of light. On Noah’s first drive, Thomas proved what a weapon he could be by making several open field moves that landed in the end zone.

A second time would cause panic if Aggie NO won.

However, despite these obvious inconsistencies, Elko still trusts his quarterback. It was something that never wavered in the midst of what Scourton called “the dogfight.”

“Marcel is still growing,” Elko said. “There are still some ups and downs with him. He succeeded
some good plays and then (we made) some plays that we wish we had back. Again, he’s a young kid and he’s going to improve every time he steps on the field.

Reed remained calm throughout the match. Even when he did stumble, he remained composed and ultimately wanted the Aggies to score a much-needed touchdown and take the lead.

This was clearly noticeable to his teammates.

“Those moments are never too important to him,” Scourton said of Reed. “I’ve never seen him nervous or jittery before a game or anything like that. I just think he was made for this.”

Perhaps he was. If he continues the high form he’s been on since entering the second half of the Aggies’ home contest against McNeese State, his stakes will get even higher with each passing week.

Luckily, he’ll have Le’Veon Moss by his side.

Green is a superstitious color for Moss.

What mattered was the color of his shoes at the beginning of the second half – the runner replaced them with the white ones he wore at the beginning of the competition – and the color of his mouthguard.

He also sees this as the reason for his good second half.

“I feel like I play better when I feel different than everyone else,” Moss said when asked why he chose the light color. “That’s how I express myself through shoes, changing colors and so on.”

Despite some early adversity – Elko cited “various things” along with a play in which Moss was hit – Moss ran for 117 yards and looked determined every step of the way.

With Reed struggling to find his targets at times, he gave the Aggies the little nudges they needed to keep their drives going, which ultimately kept their season hopes alive.

“He’s a talented defender,” Elko said of the Aggies’ leading hitter. “He runs hard. He runs after the protectors. We definitely put the game on the ice.”

But beyond his ability to hustle, Moss was a voice of reason and a leader on the sidelines; one of the faces that “didn’t blink” no matter the situation.

The reason for taking this position?

“Play for the man next to you,” he said. “Everyone was encouraging people to keep their heads up. It’s just brotherhood. We are strong together.”

Every Aggie who entered the press conference room after securing their ninth victory in 10 tries over the Razorbacks emphasized this strongly, and it made sense.

The Aggies weren’t dominant. They seemed to be in trouble for most of the match and with a lot of games ahead of them without key players in their squad, they will have to work hard to come out on top.

That’s what they’ve been doing since they were “humiliated” against Notre Dame, as Scourton put it.

“Notre Dame was like a punch in the face for us,” the defensive lineman said. “This match hurts. We can’t get it back.”

They may not be able to do it, but they can learn from the lowest point they reached that night. That’s what they showed in Arlington. The Aggies relied on their brotherhood more than ever to help bring home the victory for the Cowboys. This was probably the biggest positive that could be taken from this match.

They don’t give out trophies for learning, but they do give away trophies for winning the Southwest Classic.

As for Elko and his brotherhood, they have the hardware proof.

“It’s a great victory,” said the coach. “This is another great step in the right direction for us. Of course, we have more to do, more to work, more to improve, (but) we will enjoy it.

“We are currently 4-1 in football and 2-0 in the SEC.”