It would not be an overstatement to say that Georgia’s game
against Arkansas will define this season.
All indications are that Todd Gurley will return for the
Cocktail Party at the beginning of November, which means that with all the
problems that Georgia has had over the course of the first two months of the
season, the Dawgs would have one loss and be in the driver’s seat to perhaps
clinch the SEC East against the Gators.
Add to that, Georgia would be getting back the best player
in the country who will have a huge chip on his shoulder after the embarrassing
suspension that he has been subject to over the past two weeks. An angry Todd
Gurley with something to prove, sounds fun to me.
Now all Georgia has to do is beat a team that has not won a
conference game since before Georgia lost to Alabama in the SEC title game in
2012. Arkansas comes into this game with a 15 game SEC losing streak.
Arkansas is much better this year than they were in 2013.
The Hogs nearly beat Texas A&M a couple of weeks ago, and basically gave
the game away against Alabama last Saturday night. You will hear on the
broadcast tomorrow that Arkansas has the biggest offensive line in football,
bigger than any other college team and bigger than any NFL team. Arkansas loves
to run the ball, and they actually have three more rushing yards than Georgia
does this season, to lead the SEC in total rushing yards.
Arkansas is a
physical team on both sides of the ball.
Nothing about this game is going to be easy for Georgia.
Georgia looked great last week defensively, shutting out a
ranked opponent on the road for the first time in school history. If Georgia
can manage to stop the Arkansas running game, then they will have a great
chance of winning this game. Arkansas doesn’t want to throw the ball, and they
aren’t very good at throwing it when they have to do it.
However, Georgia’s offense is not nearly as potent as we
have seen in recent years, and despite Nick Chubb’s great performance last
week, it would be hard to see him holding up like that against a physical team
like Arkansas. You have probably gotten tired of hearing me say this, but
Hutson Mason has to step up and be the reason Georgia wins a game, and not just
a reason that Georgia didn’t lose a game. Arkansas is going to sell out to stop
the run, if Mason could complete just a couple of deep passes down the field,
the Arkansas defense would have to respect the pass, and Georgia would be able
to run the ball much more effectively.
I don’t feel confident about this game. Arkansas is going to
upset someone this season. Georgia is coming off a huge, team victory last
week, while Arkansas is coming off a huge disappointment. Georgia is traveling
a long distance for the second straight week, and the lack of depth at running
back has forced safety JJ Greene to return the running back position for this
week only. Arkansas runs the ball well, which can control the clock and keep
them in the game in the fourth quarter, and their size on defense would suggest
that they can hold up against the Georgia running game all afternoon.
I don’t think either team can afford to fall behind by more
than 10 points and expect to win this game. If Georgia jumps out to an early
lead I think you could see Arkansas fold, thinking that they missed their
chance last week against the Tide. If Arkansas jumps out to an early lead, they
could ride the emotion of their fans all afternoon and pull away from Georgia.
I think Georgia can pull it out, but it is going to be
tough. It is going to be ugly. And if Georgia wins the game, it will be because
Georgia’s defense stepped up and stopped a great running attack. This will be
old school, hard fought football.
Georgia 24 Arkansas
17
Go Dawgs.
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