Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — We're at a wet Kyle Field, drenched from a major rainfall earlier this morning, though as the kickoff approaches for the Arkansas-Texas A&M game, it appears we're getting a little respite from the heavy stuff and only misting.

Television has moved this game to an 11:21 a.m. kickoff — better than last year, when that one kicked off at 11 a.m. and Arkansas didn't seem awake for the first half when the Aggies raced out to a 35-17 lead, only to see the Hogs come back for a 42-38 victory.

Arkansas has won the past three games with the Aggies after the programs renewed an old Southwest Conference rivalry in 2009 as the Southwest Classic in Jerry Jones' Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. With the former Big 12 Aggies joining the SEC this year, A&M opted to shift the series to home fields for the next two years — they'll be back in Arlington for a long run starting in 2014.

They'll probably wish they were under a roof today. More rain is expected throughout the day. We're supposed to have thunderstorms in south-central Texas tonight.

A&M has won two straight over weak foes, SMU and South Carolina State, while Arkansas' season has shockingly hit the skids with three straight losses after reaching No. 8 in the national polls.

Continuing a trend started in last week's 35-26 loss to Rutgers, the Razorbacks will have a new uniform look: The white helmets are repeated this week, with white jerseys and pants. Arkansas hasn't had this look in 60 years. The Hogs weren't winning in the look then either.

A&M is a 14.5 point favorite this morning; the line has risen from 11.5 earlier in the week. Our own Doc Harper says Vegas is giving money away with that line if you play it smartly. The thinking by the "experts" is there's no way Arkansas' defense can corral A&M redshirt freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel, the Aggies' run-pass talent who has managed to avoid turnovers. Arkansas has managed to turn the opponent over rarely in four games, with a minus-10 takeaway margin.

We don't know about all that point-spread stuff, but we'll be providing some insight and all the particulars to today's game in our usual live game blog format. Join in with your comments in the comment section, or email me at jharris@abpg.com, as I check the mail periodically.

Chris Bahn and I (mostly Chris) will be tweeting today as well. Follow us @cbahn or @jimharris360 or @arksports360

If you're reading this blog after the game and wanting to follow it as the game progressed, entries are in reverse chronological order, so start at the end and work back:

3:44 p.m. 58-10, Texas A&M, final — While we were on the field for the final minutes, A&M piled on another touchdown with true freshman Trey Williams (who at least visited Arkansas last January even though he had no intention to sign with Bobby Petrino and the Hogs) accounting for all of a 28-yard drive after a fourth-down failure by Arkansas in mop up time.

Give Arkansas Coach  John L. Smith credit for not whining about A&M continuing to pass and score late after the game was out of hand. "It's up to us to keep them from scoring."