Razorbacks can’t stop Georgia, drop SEC opener 52-41
Bobby Petrino’s high-octane passing game lived up to the pre-season hype Saturday as Ryan Mallett and the Arkansas receiving core compiled a single-game school record 408 yards through the air in the SEC opener against the Georgia Bulldogs.
The problem? Georgia quarterback Joe Cox also had a career night, passing for 375 yards of his own. Georgia finished with 530 yards of total offense against the struggling Hog defense and handed Arkansas their first loss of the season 52-41.
The Razorbacks jumped out to a 21-10 lead on three early touchdown passes by Mallett but a penalty-plagued second quarter, including 78 yards of penalties and the ejection of Arkansas linebacker Jerry Franklin helped Georgia own the second quarter. The Bulldogs scored 17 unanswered points in the second to lead 27-21 at the break.
Arkansas traded scores with Georgia in the third quarter, but twice couldn’t punch it in inside the red zone down the stretch, instead settling for Alex Tejada’s field goals. Yes, Georgia escaped Reynolds Razorback stadium with the win.
“I’m very disappointed in our defense,” Coach Bobby Petrino said after the game. “We didn’t stop the run well enough and we let them throw for a lot of yards tonight. We didn’t get enough pressure in the four-man rush and we had assignment errors.”
Arkansas will have to regroup quickly. This week the Hogs will travel to Tuscaloosa to face the #3 ranked team in the nation in both the AP top 25 and the coaches poll, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Comments
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By Jones on September 21st, 2009
Those kind of games take the fun out of scoring touchdowns, because even if you score, it doesn’t matter, you can’t stop anyone.
Mallet was a total badass, but my outlook for this season was severly damaged by our terrible defense.
By Bell on September 21st, 2009
Our Defense will get better. It will just take some time to work out the kinks. wether it comes fast enough is lead to be seen. We still have time to turn this season around and get to a bowl game.
By sg on September 22nd, 2009
It’s been said many times over by now, but I think our offense can win us a lot of games. Unfortunately, in the SEC, you HAVE to have a competent defense in order to consistently win.
Our D the other night was atrocious. I thought that maybe a 21-10 lead was something we could’ve held on to. But Georgia stuck to their game plan and took us to task. Is our D THAT bad? Maybe. But we did have a starting LB out and Elton Ford sitting on the bench. Does two players make a difference? Maybe.
I think it’s worth saying that for all of Petrino’s genius on offense, he’s yet to find his equal counter-part on defense. I’m afraid that we’ll be seeing a new Def Coord next year if we don’t win one of these next five games.
A shoot-out every week won’t cut it and we’ll end up injuring our offensive peeps.
By hoglvr on September 23rd, 2009
What do the hogs need? Two Words: defensive secondary I couldn’t decide whether they were lazy or just slow. Maybe a little of both. I know there are some talented freshman, maybe we should give them a try.
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