Georgia outslings Arkansas

By TIM TUCKER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Different stadium. Different opponent. Same game.

One week after winning a 78-point duel with South Carolina, Georgia’s football team survived an even higher-scoring shootout Saturday night, beating Arkansas 52-41 at Razorback Stadium.

With the defenses mounting little or no resistance for most of the cool, cloudy night, the game became a showcase for the quarterbacks, Arkansas’ 6-foot-7 Ryan Mallett and Georgia’s considerably shorter Joe Cox.

They threw for almost 800 yards between them — Mallett for 408 and Cox for 375.

Mallett, a transfer from Michigan making his SEC debut, fired a Razorbacks-record five touchdown passes in the first three quarters, burning Georgia’s troubled secondary on scoring throws of 18, 48, 30, 40 and 2 yards.

But Cox, showing arm strength that many critics claimed he did not possess, countered with five touchdown passes of his own, including — in order — a 21-yarder to Aron White, a 25-yarder to A.J. Green, a 50-yarder to Tavarres King, a 44-yarder to freshman Orson Charles and a 28-yarder to Green.

It was another wild game, with Georgia overcoming a double-digit first-quarter deficit, with the teams combining for 194 yards in penalties and with the lead changing hands four times in the third quarter alone.

“We’ve been finding a way to keep it exciting,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said after the game. “I’m very thankful for the victory — excited to be 2-0 in the SEC. I don’t think we’ve come close to playing as well as we can.”

Green’s second touchdown reception — a leaping grab in the end zone with 10:46 left in the game — put Georgia ahead 49-38 with 10:46 to play. Arkansas kicked a field goal with 7:21 left to trim the lead to 49-41.

Georgia then was forced to punt, but Drew Butler boomed a 64-yarder to back up Arkansas to its 9-yard line. Georgia’s defense then likewise forced a punt — a meager 28-yarder that gave the Bulldogs the ball at the 30.

From there, a 19-yard run by Caleb King — impressive in his season debut after battling a pulled hamstring for more than a month — set up Blair Walsh’s third field goal of the game, a 31-yarder that sealed the victory with 2:10 to play.

Cox’s five touchdown passes tied the UGA single-game record also achieved by Matthew Stafford, D.J. Shockley and David Greene. Cox completed 18 of 26 passes for the night, including seven to Green for 137 yards and six to Michael Moore for 91.

“I was very disappointed in our defense,” Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said late Saturday night. “Going into the ballgame, we wanted to take 8 [Green] out of the ballgame, and we weren’t able to do that.

“They came out with a lot of intensity,” Georgia cornerback Brandon Boykin said of Arkansas, “and hit us in the mouth early. We gained the momentum back, and we bowed our necks, especially in the fourth quarter, to get the win.”

For the second week in a row, Georgia trailed by double digits in the first quarter — this time 21-10. Again, the culprits were turnovers (two in the first quarter) and pass defense (three touchdown throws by Mallett in the first quarter).

A fumbled punt by Prince Miller at the Georgia 34 set up Arkansas’ first touchdown, which came on an 18-yard Mallett-to-Joe Adams pass. Georgia hastily tied the score, but a 50-yard kickoff return and a 48-yard Mallett-to-Jarius Wright throw restored the Razorbacks’ lead. And late in the quarter, after Walsh’s first field goal cut the Arkansas lead to 14-10, a Richard Samuel fumble at the Georgia 30 led immediately to a Mallett-to-Greg Childs score and a 21-10 Arkansas lead.

Mallett finished the quarter — his first in the SEC — with 161 yards passing.

Georgia asserted itself on offense in the second quarter, starting with an 80-yard burst up the middle by Samuel to pull within 21-17.

The Bulldogs put together a seven-minute-plus drive on their next possession to take the lead for the first time, 24-21. The drive featured the 2009 debut of King, subbing for Samuel after missing the first two games with a pulled hamstring. King carried four times for 25 yards on the drive, which was completed when Cox connected with Green.

“What hurt us was our inability to run the ball,” Petrino said, “because they were able to do that in the second quarter and keep us on the sideline some.”

Walsh’s second field goal of the night at the end of the half made the score 27-21.

The third quarter, though, was more of the same, Mallett and Cox matching each other touchdown pass for touchdown pass. Mallett threw a 40-yarder, then Cox a 50-yarder, then Mallett a two-yarder, then Cox a 44-yarder.

Correspondent Scott Cain contributed to this article.