It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish, and from the start it seemed as though Arkansas was going to walk out a giant killer.
Three quarters in, that still would have held true, but ultimately, No. 6 Texas A&M stepped up when it needed to on both sides of the ball and there was nothing the Razorbacks could do about it, falling 35-28 in overtime.
Despite their numbers, neither quarterback was tremendous. Arkansas' Brandon Allen was 15-for-27 for a mild 199 yards and one touchdown pass, while counterpart Kenny Hill was 21-for-41 with 386 yards and four TD passes – three of the scores coming in the fourth quarter and OT.
You wouldn't have guessed it after three quarters, but Hill truly is an elite quarterback, the type who makes big-time plays when it matters, signified by his performance Saturday. Through four games this season, he had completed 69.8 percent of his passes while averaging 339 yards per game with 13 touchdowns and one interception.
Maybe the Aggies got high on themselves after trouncing No. 9 South Carolina in Week 1 or maybe it's because they've played nothing but cupcake teams since, outscoring them 169-19 in the process. But the Razorbacks are an SEC team through and through, ranked or not, and they played like it.
This is a wake up call, as Texas A&M has it in tough with No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 3 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn in the next month. But it's difficult to gauge whether they'll overcome a 14-point deficit again, let alone against power schools.
But hey, the SEC West is a meat shredder, filled with both tremendously talented and terribly flawed schools. That's not to say any one of those schools has a glaring flaw, including the Aggies. But connecting on two long touchdowns late in the fourth and walking away victorious isn't a saving grace to win the division. It was a blessing.
The Aggies are 5-0 to start the season, but of course, they're concluding with one of the most grueling schedules in the nation – a true test of whether Texas A&M and Kenny "Trill" are the real deal.
