Sam Pittman addresses pivotal KJ Jefferson fumble vs. Texas A&M

Sam Pittman and the Arkansas Razorbacks suffered their first defeat of their 2022 campaign Saturday against Texas A&M 23-21. Arkansas had a chance to take a two score lead into the halftime locker room, but a fumble returned for a touchdown at the goal line gave the Aggies the break they needed.

The fumble happened a designed run for star quarterback KJ Jefferson from the three-yard line, Jefferson attempted to dive over the defense and lost the ball on the goal line. Texas A&M returned the ball for a touchdown in incredible fashion, and the play came as a major disappointment to Pittman, who was feet away from a respectable halftime lead.

“It was a huge play, obviously. It went from 21-7 to 14-13. It was first down, too,” Pittman said after the loss. “We had a list of things … It was a huge play in the game and unfortunately it happened to us. We can’t do that on first down. If it was a fourth down, that’s a different story. Unfortunately it got popped out.”

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Fumbles have plagued the Razorbacks this season – on 10 separate occasions Arkansas’ offensive unit has put the ball on the ground. Luckily for Pittman’s squad, they’ve only turned the ball over three times during those instances.

“I’ll say this, if kids did everything you coached them, you’d be 15-0 and undefeated,” Pittman said. “It’s human. They’re human. Certainly that was one of our emphasis and we had (fumbles) from the week before. He wanted to score and it happened.”

With the loss to the Aggies, Arkansas has dropped 10 spots in the latest AP Top 25 poll. They’ll look to improve on their ranking with a victory at Mississippi State this Saturday, and a non-conference matchup at No. 19 BYU the following week.