Joe Cox waited four years to become Georgia’s starting quarterback. Then it took him only three weeks in the role to gain national acclaim.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation on Sunday named Cox its National Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in Georgia’s 52-41 win at Arkansas on Saturday night.
Cox completed 18 of 26 passes for 375 yards and a UGA-record-tying five touchdowns. He threw scoring passes of 21, 25, 50, 44 and 28 yards, demonstrating the accuracy that his coaches have long lauded and arm strength that some critics had claimed he didn’t possess.
“We’re not surprised he was able to make those throws,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Sunday, “because we’ve seen him do it in practice for years.”
Richt added: “If you go back to when we had Joe Tereshinski, Joe Cox [and] Matthew Stafford battling it out [in 2006] ... we were keeping close track of who was doing what [in practice]. And Joe Cox has been really the most accurate practice passer that we have had for a while.”
Cox’s five touchdown passes Saturday matched the UGA single-game record also achieved by Stafford (in last year’s loss to Georgia Tech), D.J. Shockley (in a 2005 win over Boise State) and David Greene (in a 2004 win over LSU). Cox is the first to do it on the road.
The Walter Camp Foundation’s weekly award winners are chosen by a national panel of media members.
Turnovers and defense
While Georgia has scored a whopping 93 points in the past two games, the Bulldogs have allowed an almost-as-whopping 78.
“I’m not real excited about it,” Richt said, “but I do know we have an opportunity to continue to improve.
“Really, the first thing we need to do is improve our turnover ratio. We have put our defense in some very short field situations — eight times in three ballgames. That’s way too many. You’d hope not to have eight in an entire season, let alone in the first three ballgames.”
Richt cited as an example the start of Saturday’s game. Georgia forced a punt on Arkansas’ first possession, but the Razorbacks immediately got the ball back at the Georgia 34 when Prince Miller fumbled the kick. Four plays later, Arkansas scored its first touchdown.
Late in the first quarter, a fumble by Georgia tailback Richard Samuel gave the Razorbacks the ball at the UGA 30, leading to another touchdown on the next play.
Georgia has committed nine turnovers in three games, setting up 40 of the 102 points its opponents have scored.
Of course, the Georgia defense also has considerable room for improvement. The team has allowed 721 passing yards to Arkansas and South Carolina the past two weeks.
“The defense itself has got to do a lot of little things better,” Richt said, “but if we progressively improve as we go, we’ve got a chance.”
King’s debut
Richt liked what he saw from tailback Caleb King, who made his 2009 debut Saturday after missing the first two games with a pulled hamstring.
“He ran the ball well, protected the ball well and also pass-protected pretty darn good,” Richt said. “And he showed no signs of the hamstring injury.”
King had 11 carries for 60 yards.
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