National media makes predictions for No. 24 Texas A&M vs. Arkansas (2024)

Every week 247Sports' Chris Hummer and Brad Crawford share their predictions for some of the biggest games nationally. The Southwest Classic is one of the biggest matchups of the weekend and intriguing for several reasons. With the Aggies the slight favorite entering the game,

Hummer (Arkansas+4.5) —This is a dangerous game for Texas A&M. The Aggies, who looked less than inspiring againstBowling Green, face very familiar competition this week. Arkansas' OCBobby Petrinocalled plays for Texas A&M last season and is well versed in their personnel. The Razorbacks can also counter A&M's pass rush a bit thanks to the legs ofTaylen Green. I don't like Arkansas enough this week to pick a straight up upset – Arkansas' turnover propensity and lack of a consistent passing attack make me nervous – but I do like the Razorbacks to cover in a series that's seen 11 straight games decided by 12 points or fewer. …Texas A&M 24, Arkansas 21.

Crawford (Texas A&M -4.5)— Will Arkansas stop explosive plays? Can the Aggies containJa'Quinden Jacksonand the Razorbacks' ground game? Those are two primary factors I'll be keeping an eye on Saturday at AT&T Stadium. The rest of the campaign often goes south for the loser of this neutral site matchup, but both squads come in confident this season with each sporting three wins already. Texas A&M has won nine of the last 10 in the series. ...Texas A&M 27, Arkansas 20.

Josh Pate had a full preview of the matchup between Texas A&M and Arkansas on his show earlier this week. Pate covered some of the big storylines heading into the game including Texas A&M's quarterback situation as well as the matchup between Bobby Petrino and the Aggies defense. Arkansas is coming off a 24-14 win over Auburn this past week while the Aggies held off Bowling Green 26-20. Heading into this matchup, Pate is favoring Texas A&M to get the win ahead of a huge matchup with Missouri next week at Kyle Field.

"Fan Duel right now has Texas A&M. It's a neutral site game. Texas A&M is a 3.5 point favorite. The model has A&M as a 4.5 point favorite. What I'm thinking here is I love what Arkansas did last week. However, a lot of it was predicated result-wise off turnovers. So if I get that again, Arkansas is going to win this game. But if I don't get that, and I don't think it's predictive, so if I don't get that, and it's a straight-up game, I think there's enough life that's been injected here with Marcel Reed that I actually think A&M can win this game and cover it. Better talent profile, although Bowling Green was close with them, they lost to Notre Dame. They had a better talent profile than both those teams.

So they haven't played up to that talent profile necessarily. But good vibes coming out of the Florida game, and there's a chance to get the season restarted here, and restarted behind Marcel Reed, and then we'll make a decision when Conner Weigman comes back, if indeed, he comes back later. I think it's Marcel Reed's game this week, and I think A&M is going to find a way to win and cover."

The Dallas Morning News released their predictions for some of the biggest games of the week and all are favoring Texas A&M to collect the win inside AT&T Stadium. Against the spread, a few believe Arkansas will cover the 5.5 point spread but are still taking the Aggies outright.

Spread/Straight

Lia Assimakopoulos - Texas A&M/Texas A&M

Scott Bell - Arkansas/Texas A&M

Corby Davidson- Arkansas/Texas A&M

Jamie Hancock - Texas A&M/Texas A&M

Selby Lopez - Texas A&M/Texas A&M

Newy Scruggs - Arkansas/Texas A&M

Kevin Sherrington -Texas A&M/Texas A&M

Brett Vito - Texas A&M/Texas A&M

The Southwest Classic has largely been dominated by Texas A&M, who have won 11 of the past 12 matchups between the two programs. In what is expected to be the final matchup at AT&T Stadium though before shifting back to a home-and-home, the HawgSports staff are all going with Arkansas to close out the series with a win and gave their reasoning as to why.

Trey Biddy: 28-27, Arkansas

Connor Goodson: 27-24, Arkansas

Danny West: 29-26, Arkansas

The GigEm247 staff unveiled our predictions on Thursday morning. With Texas A&M the slight favorite heading into this weekend's matchup, all three GigEm247 writers are going with the Aggies and detailed why on Thursday morning.

Jeff Tarpley - Texas A&M 24, Arkansas 17

Carter Karels - Texas A&M 31, Arkansas 27

Andrew Hattersley - Texas A&M 27, Arkansas 24

Pete Fiutak weighed in this week with a full preview of the matchup between the Razorbacks and Aggies. As he does every week, Fiutak looked at the reasons each team could win the game before giving his prediction. Fiutak sees a lot of similarities between the way the two teams operate but the Aggies have been slightly better protecting the ball.This series has delivered a lot of close games and this upcoming week might well follow that trend but Fiutak believes turnovers will be the difference in allowing the Aggies to emerge with a win.

"With the way these two run this should take about an hour and a half.
These teams aren't exactly identical - A&M has a bit more talent, but …
They're both great on the ground, great at stopping the run, dominate the time of possession battle, and the completion percentages are a tad hit or miss.
Arkansas - at least if Weigman isn't playing for the Aggies - is a bit better throwing the ball, A&M is a bit better stopping decent passing teams, and …
This is one of those games and matchups that has a way of defying logic and reason, but …
Texas A&M will be +2 in turnover margin, and that will be just enough to get by."

Texas A&M 27, Arkansas 23

Having won 11 of the 12 past matchups, Texas A&M enters this weekend as the slight favorite over Arkansas. The Aggies have won three straight games since a season-opening loss to Notre Dame and boast one of the top rushing attacks nationally. While giving his prediction of this week, Guy likes the Aggies to not only win the game but cover the 3.5 point spread as well.

Guy's pick: "Take the Aggies -3.5"

Fort Smith Southwest Times Record Writer Jackson Fuller had a full preview of the game earlier this week in which he looks at the some of the key storylines. Both teams currently have top-20 rushing offenses nationally while Arkansas hasdone a better job stopping the run through the early portion of the season. Fuller believes that could be the difference in the game and is picking up Arkansas to pull off a close win this weekend.

Both of these teams like to run the football, but the Aggies have been inconsistent stopping the ground game this season. Bobby Petrino will come up with a game plan that puts Taylen Green and Ja'Quinden Jackson in position to win this game. Last week, we said we wouldn't pick Arkansas until it proved it could win a meaningful SEC game. The Hogs did that last week, and now they will exercise some Arlington demons and continue a surprising start to the fall.Arkansas 27, Texas A&M 23

James Parks took a deep dive into the analytics heading into the matchup between the Razorbacks and the Aggies.According to the SP+ prediction model, Parks gives the Aggies the slight edge to continue their dominant run inside AT&T Stadium over Arkansas.

"The simulations project yet another win for the Aggies against the Razorbacks at Jerry World.

And another one-score game, too.

SP+ predicts that Texas A&M will defeat Arkansas by a projected score of 30 to 26 and to win the game by an expected 4.1 points.

The model gives the Aggies a 60 percent chance of outright victory.

SP+ is a "tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency" that attempts to predict game outcomes by measuring "the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football."

How good is it this season? So far, the SP+ model is 105-91-1 against the spread with a 53.6 win percentage."

The SEC Unfiltered crew of Chris Phillips and Cole Thompson broke down the matchup between the Aggies and Razorbacks inaseriesthat has beenwith close games. Phillips believes that will be the case again this weekend coming down to a field goal either way. As Phillips points out though, the Aggies have found a way to pull off a win in these games in the past and he is siding with the Maroon and White again this weekend. Cole Thompson likes what he has seen from the Aggies through the early portion of the season and spoke highly of the Aggies moving forward. With that said, Thompson is going the other direction this weekend and picking the Razorbacks.

Chris Phillips - Texas A&M 31, Arkansas 28

Cole Thompson - Arkansas 27, Texas A&M 24.