ATHENS – There was an air of relief in the voice of Georgia coach Kirby Smart as he sat down to talk to reporters on a digital conference call at Arkansas’ Reynolds/Razorback Stadium Saturday night.
It was a harder-than-expected 37-10 win over a team the Bulldogs were favored by 28 points coming in. Georgia had to rally from 7-0 and 10-5 deficits before taking the lead for good midway through the third quarter.
“A really sloppy first half,” Smart acknowledged in his postgame remarks. “I felt like I was in an extra-innings football game. It went forever and we weren’t scoring many points, that’s for certain. We’ve got a long way to get to where we need to go, but I want to be positive about what the guys were able to do in the second half.”
The Bulldogs (1-0) will need to be considerably better as No. 8 Auburn (1-0) is set to visit Sanford Stadium next Saturday for Georgia’s home opener. The Tigers (1-0) defeated Kentucky 29-13 in their opener.
Georgia won Saturday because Smart brought in quarterback Stetson Bennett IV to replace starter D’Wan Mathis in the second quarter. The Bulldogs outscored Arkansas 35-3 the rest of the way as the redshirt junior from Blackshear was 20-for-29 passing for 211 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bennett also converted a two-point conversion on a nifty run for the pylon in the third quarter.
Nevertheless, Smart wasn’t ready to commit to Bennett as the starter this week. He said Mathis will still be in consideration and the Bulldogs remain hopeful that sophomore transfer JT Daniels gets medical clearance for a knee injury that required surgery one year ago.
“We’ll decide this week how we’re going to go forward,” Smart said.
Credit: Georgia Bulldogs
So we learned Bennett has the ability to come off the bench and lead Georgia to a win. Following are some other things we learned this weekend:
GameDay is coming
UGA found out late Saturday night that ESPN and its popular GameDay Show will be coming to town for the Top 10 matchup between Georgia and Auburn.
Because of safety protocols to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Sanford Stadium will be at 25 percent capacity for the game and UGA has ordered no tailgating on campus beyond what can be done around one’s parking space without tents, grills or coolers. Likewise, no fans will be allowed near the GameDay set.
Normally, thousands of Georgia fans gather in the Myers Hall Quad to watch see which mascot head Lee Corso puts on at the end of the three-hour college football preview show (9 a.m.-noon). It’s not yet known where they’ll set up this year.
Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Georgia’s own David Pollack are expected to be in town. Pollack, the Bulldogs' most decorated defensive lineman of all time, lives in Oconee County, just outside of Athens. He is being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this year.
College GameDay was at UGA last September when No. 3 Georgia topped No. 7 Notre Dame 23-17. The show also was on hand in Atlanta last December for the SEC Championship game between Georgia and LSU.
What about that D?
The goal of Georgia’s defense once again this season was to create more havoc. That goal was clearly achieved against Arkansas as the Bulldogs recorded three interceptions, a forced a fumble and scored on a safety and touchdown interception return.
Two of the interceptions were made by senior safety Richard LeCounte. He also had two in Georgia’s last game of last season, the Sugar Bowl win over Baylor.
So LeCounte was feeling good about that. He wasn’t, however, feeling so good about the 49-yard touchdown catch he gave up in the first quarter.
“We just had a little mix-up on the communication end,” LeCounte said. “You know, it was the first game out. We got that handled immediately. The next time we saw (that play) we handled it 100%.”
Other than the first-quarter TD, the Bulldogs gave up only a third-quarter field goal after a an offensive turnover. The Razorbacks, led by former Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks, finished with just 280 yards. They become the 14th of the last 15 teams Georgia has faced to fail to score more than 20 points.
Returns good on Scott Cochran
One of the biggest unknowns heading into the opener was how Georgia’s special teams would look under first-year coordinator Scott Cochran. Well, the returns are in and they are very good. Maybe even great.
The Bulldogs got a blocked punt from Zamir White, Jake Camarda averaged 49.9 yards per punt and pinned the Hogs deep often (including once at the 1), and newly minted place-kicker Jack Podlesny was good on his only two field goal attempts of 39 and 38 yards.
But it was Georgia’s returns game that really flashed. Kenny McIntosh returned two kickoffs for 91 yards, with a long of 48, and Jackson and Tyrique Stevenson combined for 57 yards on three punt returns, or an average of 19 yards.
Cochran joined the Bulldogs in February after 12 years as Alabama’s strength coach. This is his first job as an on-field assistant coach. He replaces Scott Fountain, who is now at Arkansas.
Mess to clean up
Georgia hurt itself as much as the Razorbacks did on Saturday, especially early in the game. The Bulldogs were flagged with 11 penalties totaling 98 yards. At one point, they actually had more yards in penalties (73) than total offense (68).
“We were very stagnant (to start),” Smart said. “We had a lot of undisciplined penalties. And, every time we had something going, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot with a 10-yard penalty, 15-yard penalty or a turnover. You can’t win football games doing that.”
Georgia just did, but point taken.
Some of the problem can be attributed to newness. The Bulldogs returned only two starters from last year’s team on offense and had four first-time career starters on that side of the ball.
Georgia also had some issues with the shotgun snaps of center Trey Hill. At one point, the Bulldogs brought in sophomore Warren Ericson to play center and moved Hill to right guard. Ericson also played some at guard.
Suffice it to say, it will take a much cleaner performance from the Bulldogs to dispatch Auburn.
See ya soon, Sam
Even though they lost, there were positive vibes surrounding the Arkansas football program now under the leadership of Sam Pittman. Pittman was Smart’s first hire as the Bulldogs' head coach and oversaw Georgia’s offensive line for the last four years before the Razorbacks hired him last December.
Dozens of Georgia players came over to greet Pittman after the opposing teams lineup on the has marks and locked arms in a show of unity after social injustice issues in the U.S. Smart and Pittman embraced in a hug then and again after the game.
“We talked before the game and I know his kids believe,” Smart said. “I know from trying to start our program at Georgia that it starts with that fight and competitiveness. I respect the way his time played and competed, right down to the wire.”
Pittman was calling timeouts and trying to score at the end of the game even though they were too far behind to be able to win.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for that,” Smart said.
Pittman said the day was as emotionally taxing as he expected it to be.
“To see all the that I worked with and the players, and for them to come and find me after the game, it was a really special moment,” Pittman said.
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