ARLINGTON, Texas — Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett got off to a great start, looking right at home in an NFL stadium. He might have gone home awfully disappointed, though, if Tramain Thomas hadn’t snatched an interception in the end zone on the game’s final play.
Mallett threw three touchdown passes in the first half, but failed to build on it and No. 11 Arkansas ended up needing to hold on for a 24-17 victory over Texas A&M at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday.
“I tried to knock it down against Georgia and they almost caught it, so I had it in my mind-set that I was going up to get the ball,” Thomas said.
He did, and the Razorbacks (4-1) came away with a much- needed win between a home loss to No. 1 Alabama and a trip to No. 8 Auburn.
The Razorbacks had several chances to put the game away early, between leading 21-7 with 53 seconds left in the first half and recovering three fumbles inside the Aggies’ 40-yard line.
They just couldn’t do it.
They got only one field goal out of the turnovers, missing another and botching a fake. Mallett was bottled up by a defense that took away his deep routes. A&M (3-2) sacked him three times; he had gone down only six all season.
A&M wound up giving the ball away four times — the fourth straight game that happened. Yet quarterback Jerrod Johnson squeezed in enough big plays to keep things interesting all the way to the end.
No. 10 Utah 68, Iowa St. 27
AMES, Iowa — Jordan Wynn threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns, Shaky Smithson threw a TD pass and caught another one and the Utes (5-0) scored 31 unanswered points in the second quarter and racked up their most points since beating Wyoming 69-14 in 1983.
Utah racked up 593 yards of offense, topped 50 points for the third week in a row and held Iowa State — which beat Texas Tech 52-38 just a week ago — to 0-for-11 on third downs.
Texas Tech 45, Baylor 38
DALLAS — Taylor Potts threw for 462 yards and four touchdowns, and Texas Tech avoided its first-ever 0-3 start in the Big 12.
The Red Raiders (3-2, 1-2) were coming off consecutive losses to Texas and Iowa State. Texas Tech hasn’t been 0-3 in league play since 1990, when it was a member of the now-defunct Southwest Conference.
Potts, who completed 15 straight passes on one point in the first half and finished 42-of-59, guided an offense which gained 635 total yards.
Baylor (4-2, 1-1) has dropped 15 consecutive games to Texas Tech. The Bears were looking to start 5-1 for the first time since 1994, the last year they played in a bowl game.
