Manziel, Aggies' train only picking up steam

He rescues kittens, but he kills Hogs.

Johnny Manziel has had quite a week, indeed.

On Wednesday he endeared himself to PETA, Texas A&M veterinary medicine students and cat lovers everywhere by saving a kitten which was trapped in the middle of a busy College Station thoroughfare.

Then on Saturday, Manziel further endeared himself to awestruck Aggies with a dazzling display of passing and running that left the reeling Arkansas Razorbacks flattened like road kill as A&M steamrolled to its first Southeastern Conference football victory, 58-10, at Kyle Field.

Just four games into his first football season, there is no doubt at A&M that Manziel is the man — or, perhaps, it’s the “Manning.” After all, he riddled Arkansas’ defenseless defense for 557 total yards to break former Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning’s SEC single-game total yardage record of 540, set against Alabama in 1969.

Manziel, who is making the spectacular seem routine, passed for 453 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 104 yards and another score while the rapidly-improving Aggies posted their third consecutive blowout victory.

“That reminded me of high school,” Texas A&M linebacker Sean Porter said of Manziel’s performance. “I played against Johnny in high school and he put up ridiculous numbers like that every week. I was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe he’s doing the same thing in college.’ It was a flashback today.”

Manziel often made Arkansas’ defense look like a high school unit. And in doing so, it raised three major questions.

• Just how good can Manziel get?
• Just how good are the Aggies?
• What will become of Arkansas?

Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin hinted that Manziel, who has thrown 10 touchdowns and rushed for six this season, is just scratching the surface of his enormous potential.

“There is a big upside to him,” Sumlin said. “He understands there is a lot for him to improve on.”

Just four games into his collegiate career, the kid is already setting records on almost a weekly basis. He set A&M’s freshman pass yardage and total offense record in a 48-3 victory over SMU. It took him two whole weeks to break those. But he didn’t just break freshman records, he broke Ryan Tannehill’s school record for passing yardage and Jerrod Johnson’s for total offense.

How much better can he get?

“A lot better,” A&M Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said. “There were a lot of plays he left out there. He’s his own worst critic. I don’t have to get on him because he gets on himself. He’s not comfortable in the offense.

“Once he gets there, the sky’s the limit. He can be as good as he wants to be. It’s up to him.”

Frankly, Manziel is already good enough that he should be included in Heisman Trophy discussion. He posts gaudy statistics and he does so with a flair, whether he’s extending a play for a long completion, dancing away from the pass rush to scramble for a touchdown or just making a rifle throw from the pocket, which he did more frequently on Saturday.

Of course, skeptics will roll eyes at the notion that Manziel is Heisman discussion-worthy. But, why not?

He was second in the nation in points-responsible-for, and that was before his four-touchdown effort against Arkansas. The only player responsible for more points is West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith, who is largely considered the Heisman frontrunner.

Detractors would say that Manziel hasn’t played strong enough competition with a schedule that has thus far included Florida, SMU, South Carolina State and Arkansas. But that schedule isn’t any weaker than that of West Virginia, which has faced Marshall, James Madison, Maryland and Baylor.

The only thing left for Manziel is to prove he can lead the Aggies to victory over a strong opponent — and several loom later in the year. That’s when the “how good is A&M question” will be answered. However, the Aggies appear very good.

They’re scoring points in bunches. They’re not committing turnovers. They’re reducing penalties. The defense, which was a concern entering the season, kept Arkansas’ dangerous passing game under wraps most of the game, grabbed two interceptions off Razorbacks quarterback Tyler Wilson and recovered a fumble, which Tramain Jacobs returned 28 yards for a touchdown.

And unlike last season when they blew a big halftime lead to Arkansas — and several other opponents — the Aggies showed a killer instinct in the second half. A&M actually trailed Arkansas, 10-7, in the first quarter and then outscored the Hogs, 51-0. The Aggies scored 31 in the second half.

“We didn’t even really mention last year at halftime,” senior linebacker Jonathan Stewart said. “We knew that in their locker room, they were like, ‘OK, last year, we were down by 17 or 18 and we can come back.’ Defensively, we felt if we could stop them, we could take away their will, and that’s what we did.”

Oh yeah, Arkansas’ will. There’s that final question. How far in the opposite direction are the Razorbacks headed?

Arkansas, which opened the season ranked No. 10, is now 1-4. It needs five more victories just to qualify for some obscure postseason bowl game. But the remaining schedule has games at Auburn, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 21 Mississippi State and a home game against No. 3 LSU.

Arkansas’ only victory was over FCS member Jacksonville State. The Razorbacks lost to Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference. They’ve been outscored 145-36 in their last three games.

They’re going to have to beat at least one ranked opponent to have a remote chance at reaching a bowl game.

Arkansas has about as much chance as a kitten trapped in the middle of a busy road.

But the Razorbacks don’t have Johnny Manziel to rescue them.