ATHENS, Ga. – It was Hog heaven for Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett.
Tagged as a talented quarterback who doesn’t perform well on the road, Mallett threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns to lead the No. 12 Razorbacks to a thrilling 31-24 win over Georgia on a hot Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium. Only four of Mallett’s 30 touchdown passes last season occurred on the road, but his third one Saturday was as clutch as they come, covering 40 yards to Greg Childs with 15 seconds remaining.
“This is a really surreal feeling,” Mallett said. “It’s something I’ve never experienced before. This has got to be one of the greatest moments I’ve felt since I’ve played the game of football.”
It was certainly one of the greatest games in the young college football season, though Georgia players weren’t sharing in Mallett’s glow. The Razorbacks needed just three plays to travel 73 yards, with Mallett completing two passes to tight end D.J. Williams totaling 33 yards before the score to Childs.
Mallett threw to Childs at the 25-yard line, and Childs shook a tackle by Shawn Williams and stayed plenty clear of inside linebacker Christian Robinson giving chase.
“I was thinking, ‘Who knows? He could trip,’ but it didn’t happen,” Robinson said. “It was very disappointing, and all we can do is focus on the next one.”
The Bulldogs visits Mississippi State this Saturday.
Arkansas hosts top-ranked Alabama and will enter with a little more confidence after a rare slaying of a traditional SEC East beast. The Razorbacks improved to 5-25 against the trio of Florida (0-8), Georgia (2-7) and Tennessee (3-10) since joining the league in 1992.
Georgia is 1-2 overall for the first time under coach Mark Richt and is 0-2 in league play for the first time since 1993.
“We got better today, but we just didn’t finish,” Richt said. “We got back into it and got the crowd back into it. We had all we could hope for with time offensively, but we didn’t get any points on the board.”
The Bulldogs roared back from a 24-10 deficit with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Murray to Tavarres King at the 7:52 mark of the fourth quarter and a 3-yard scoring run by Washaun Ealey with 3:55 left. Georgia’s defense forced a three-and-out and the Bulldogs got it about midfield but scored no points from the chance.
Murray was sacked on a third-and-4, and Drew Butler followed with an uncharacteristic 31-yard punt to give Mallett the wiggle room he needed.
“I thought we had it, to be honest,” Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo said. “But LSU lost two games in 2007 and won the national championship, so it isn’t over for us. You saw how far down we were, and we came back. We still can achieve our goals.”
The touchdown pass from Mallett to Childs prevented what would have been the first overtime game at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs have played three overtime games on the road, as well as two in bowl games.
“It so rarely comes down to the wire like this,” Mallett said. “It has sometimes gone the other way for us, but now I know how it feels to get the win.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or (423) 757-6524.