ARLINGTON, Texas — Arkansas fans, avert your eyes— hopefully, you did so before this game even started.
It was the annual Southwest Classic, with Arkansas and Texas A&M squaring off inside AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys.
Lots of things seem to always happen in this game; Arkansas leads and gives up some kind of backbreaking touchdown, but things stay close enough to truly break your heart in the end.
Well, the good news is, most of those things didn't happen this year.
The bad news? The one that did was Arkansas giving up a backbreaking touchdown, and it happened several times.
Technically, Arkansas did give up a lead.
Cam Little drilled a 52-yard field goal in the first quarter, to put Arkansas up 3-0. A&M responded with a touchdown, and the Hogs never led again.
The game stayed deceptively close for a long time. Despite the Arkansas offense struggling mightily, the defense stepped up, and the Aggies seemed determined to keep Arkansas within striking distance.
First drive of the third quarter, Snaxx Johnson stepped in front of an Aggie screen pass and took it to the house, and the Hogs suddenly trailed by just 4 pints, with all the momentum.
The teams then traded field goals before the wheels really started coming off for Arkansas. KJ Jefferson had a pass tipped at the line right to an Aggie defender, who took it in for six.
Next drive, Arkansas was forced to punt. Then A&M returned and fumbled the punt, but promptly picked it up and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown.
Arkansas didn't score an offensive touchdown until the game was out of reach, a 48-yard dime from Jefferson to Andrew Armstrong.
The pass was KJ's 78th all-purpose touchdown as a Razorback, which broke a tie with Matt Jones for the most in program history.
What Jefferson has accomplished as a Hog is truly special, but in this game it was but a footnote in an embarrassing 34-22 loss that wasn't anywhere near as close as that final score would lead you to believe.
The Hogs lost their third straight to drop to 2-3 on the season. They head to Oxford next week for a 6:30 p.m. showdown with Ole Miss.