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Arkansas certainly shot itself in the foot numerous times, but it was ultimately beaten soundly by a team with national title aspirations Saturday afternoon.
After knocking off the likes of Texas and Texas A&M en route to a 4-0 start and No. 8 ranking, the Razorbacks were reminded how far away they are from the upper echelon of college football in a 37-0 loss to No. 2 Georgia inside Sanford Stadium.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-0 lead in a disastrous first quarter for Arkansas and was never threatened in what ended up being the second-worst margin of defeat in a top-10 showdown in UA history.
“They have, to this point, by far the best football team we've played,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “A lot of mistakes in the game, but the bottom line is we're just not where we need to be physically yet, because they dominated us on both sides of the ball.”
Coming into the game, the Razorbacks had developed a reputation as one of the best rushing offenses in the country. Their 261 yards per game ranked eighth nationally and they did it while averaging 5.6 yards per carry, a mark that ranked 15th in the FBS.
Against Georgia’s heralded defense, though, they managed less than a third of their season average, finishing with 75 yards on 29 carries. That comes out to an abysmal 2.6 yards per attempt.
“I don't want to simplify this, but they just whipped us physically,” Pittman said. “It wasn't guys in the backfield turned loose or anything like that. We just couldn't block them.”
It’s the second year in a row the Bulldogs have stifled Arkansas’ run game. Last season, the Razorbacks went for 77 yards on 28 carries for a 2.8-yard average.
With a stable of running backs that many would consider better than their situation in the first game of 2020, the Razorbacks were swallowed up by a defense that includes multiple projected first-round picks, including massive defensive tackle Jordan Davis.
