ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia now has been shredded by land and air.
After allowing 182 rushing yards to South Carolina freshman tailback Marcus Lattimore a week earlier in a loss to the Gamecocks, the Bulldogs surrendered 380 passing yards Saturday to Arkansas junior quarterback Ryan Mallett. The final 40 of Mallett’s passing yards went to Greg Childs with 15 seconds remaining to propel the Razorbacks to a 31-24 victory.
“He definitely lived up to what he’s been called,” Georgia inside linebacker Christian Robinson said. “He’s a great quarterback with a great set of receivers. Even when we were in the right place, he was tough.”
Making offenses one-dimensional doesn’t always work when facing the Razorbacks. Georgia limited Arkansas to 12 rushing yards on 11 first-half carries, but Mallett threw for 232 yards in the first 30 minutes.
Georgia did a good job of getting Lattimore off the field in the third quarter last week and did the same with Mallett for most of the fourth quarter. Yet with 47 seconds to play, the 6-foot-6, 238-pounder connected twice with tight end D.J. Williams for gains of 18 and 15 yards before the strike to Childs.
New Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has yet to taste an SEC win but felt Saturday was an improvement over what transpired in Columbia.
“We attacked blockers better up front,” Grantham said. “We were more physical up front, and I thought we would play good and then give up an explosive play. Then we would play well again and give up another explosive play, and that starts to kind of negate playing good.
“You can play your tail off and give up seven points, but you’re still giving up seven points.”
For a second consecutive game, Georgia allowed a touchdown on the opening possession. For a second consecutive game, the Bulldogs had their opponent at third-and-12 two plays into the game only to give up a first down.
Mallett completed a 15-yard pass to Childs to keep the first Arkansas drive alive. Last week it was a 16-yard Lattimore draw.
“You have to understand that on third down everybody is what I call on a sticks-element route,” Grantham said. “What that means is that they’re throwing to the sticks. Now sometimes on longer yardage it will be a catch-and-run play to try and clear a guy out, but we have to have awareness to break up and finish a guy off before he gets the first down.
“As we move forward, we’re going to improve in that area, especially third-and-longs.”
The Bulldogs failed to collect a turnover after getting four in their first two games. The closest they came was in the final minute of the first half, when Bacarri Rambo dropped a potential interception that could have prevented a Razorbacks field goal that made the score 17-7 at the break.
“Ryan Mallett threw that ball so hard It threw me off of my concentration,” Rambo said. “It went through the tight end’s hands and hit my chest, and I didn’t know what it was. I was like, ‘[Dang], that was the ball.’ Ryan Mallett has a very, very strong arm.”