The Top 10 match-up between Georgia football and the Arkansas Razorbacks produced a ton of talk this week, mostly by jubilant (and delusional) Hogs fans on social media.
But, Georgia fans, and the folks in the desert felt secure that when all was said and done, the Dawgs would cruise against former Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman and his upstart bunch.
Vegas installed Georgia as an 18.5 point favorite at the beginning of the week, and Dawgs fans maintained a quiet optimism all week.
Most fans felt there were a number of parallels between this matchup, and Georgia football’s 2017 matchup with another surprising SEC West foe, undefeated Mississippi State.
Those turned out to be apt comparisons. Just like that night against Nick Fitzgerald and the western Bulldogs, Georgia jumped all over Arkansas early and never let up.
These are five notable takeaways from Georgia football’s fifth win of the season.
No sooner was Georgia’s shellacking of Vanderbilt complete than head coach Kirby Smart issued a challenge to Dawgnation to be ELITE for the upcoming noon kickoff against SEC West foe Arkansas.
To say the Georgia faithful responded accordingly would be the understatement of the 2021 season.
The student section, led as usual by the Spike Squad and Paint Line was close to full by 10:30 am. When it came time for Georgia football’s pregame entrance before kick, Sanford Stadium was, to quote the venerable Larry Munson, “Worse than bonkers”:
Packed for a noon game. Don’t remember seeing that before. pic.twitter.com/KrIQRXXCMd
— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) October 2, 2021
The ELITE effect was felt almost immediately, as Arkansas started their first offensive possession with consecutive false starts. The Razorbacks were penalized 13 times total and seemed frazzled from opening kick to final whistle.
Reporting from the sidelines during the first quarter, ESPN’s Holly Rowe commented on the atmosphere, relaying that the decibel levels in the stadium pulsed to 110, louder than Beaver Stadium was the previous week at Penn State for their primetime white-out game.
Multiple players posted on social media postgame thanking Dawgs fans for coming out in force and playing the role of 12th man.
Just like the team, for Georgia fans, the standard is the standard. Be the best travelling fanbase in the nation and be ELITE at all games played Between The Hedges.
After showing the highlight package for Dawgs-Hogs on ESPN’s College Football Live, they put up a graphic that should steel Georgia football fans nerves as the season progresses.
Through five games since 1950, five teams have scored 200+ points while holding their opponents to 25 points or less.
The list is as follows:
1956: Oklahoma
1979: Alabama
1993: Florida State
2001: Virginia Tech
2021: Georgia
Of the four previous teams to hit the points scored-points allowed benchmarks, three of them won it all. The only one that didn’t was the 2001 Virginia Tech squad.
Georgia football is performing at an ELITE level in all three phases of the game and, if they continue to do, Dawgs fans are in for a magical ride.
For the second week in a row and the third time this season, Georgia football was saddled with a sleepy noon kickoff slot.
On all three occasions, the only thing drowsy about the game was the Dawgs opponent after the good guys in Red & Black hit them with a first quarter knockout.
At the end of the opening quarter in Georgia football’s three noon kickoffs against UAB, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas, the Dawgs have outscored their opponents 77-0.
This team starts hot and stays hot, burying their opponents early. These are the scores in Georgia’s three noon starts at the end of the first quarter:
UAB: 21-0
Vanderbilt: 35-0
Arkansas: 21-0
Jalen. Carter. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
This isn’t the first time that Jalen Carter made a splash for Georgia football from the fullback position. Last season against Tennessee as a freshman, Carter lined up in the backfield near the goal line and sent Sanford Stadium into a tizzy when he hauled in a Stetson Bennett pass for a Dawgs touchdown.
Turns out the sequel was even better than the original.
After a flustered Sam Pittman burned an Arkansas timeout to adjust to the goal line personnel grouping of Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis, Georgia came right back out in the same formation.
Carter then preceded to make an accordion out of three Hogs defenders as Kendall Milton walked into the endzone for the first touchdown of his career.
Kirk Herbstreit was so focused on Jordan Davis lined up at tight end – and justifiably so – he didn’t even notice at first that Jalen Carter did his best Optimus Prime and transformed himself into a road-grader.
He noticed it mid-replay and his response was an amusing mix of giddy and incredulous.
It’s a play Georgia football fans won’t soon forget.
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart made it very clear in his postgame interview with Holly Rowe and again in his postgame press conference that the offensive gameplan could be summarized in one word – patience.
They determined Arkansas would be content to drop multiple defenders into coverage and dare the Dawgs to beat them running the football.
Well, in what seemed to be the mantra for the week, challenge accepted. Georgia ran the ball an eye-popping 56 times. Patiently, they churned out 273 yards on the ground, with four different Dawgs backs logging ten-plus carries.
Coach Smart mentioned in the postgame that running game coordinator Dell McGee challenged the unit to get what he termed “the Georgia 5” – a run play that should only result in two yards, but by grit and determination, the unit turns into five.
The offensive line clearly bought in to that concept, as there were multiple plays where a Georgia running back would look like their forward progress was halted, only to gain three-to-four more yards after multiple lineman joined in to push the pile.
And now, the Georgia 5 also refers to the Dawgs record, a perfect 5-0 heading in to this week’s matchup with Auburn in The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.