LITTLE ROCK — Plenty went wrong for Arkansas in its 52-41 loss to Georgia.
Take your pick - from a disappointing defensive performance, a deluge of penalties and even hiccups in the red zone by the red-hot offense.
But what stood out to Bobby Petrino was the Hogs' inability to run the ball, especially in the second quarter. The Hogs focused and prepared plenty on the running game and the coaches pointed to the backfield as a big part of the Hogs' potential success or failure against Georgia's stout defensive front.
Chalk it up as disappointing this time around. The Hogs' running backs rushed for 77 yards and couldn't come up with a bigplay to eat time off the clock and keep the Georgia offense off the field.
Georgia (2-1, 2-0 SEC), for at least one quarter, found a way to come up with the big play on the ground when it needed a shot of adrenaline most.
"They were able to do that some in the second quarter and keep us on the sideline," Petrino said. "That's what hurt us."
With Arkansas (1-1, 0-1) up 21-10 after seemingly being unstoppable on offense in the first quarter, Georgia went back to the run, pounded the Hogs and then came up with big plays to take a 27-21 lead.
What drew the most blood was an 80-yard touchdown run by Richard Samuel, whose burstthrough the middle of the defensive line freed him in the secondary and led to no tackle attempts in a show of run-and-chase. The run came on an audible by quarterback Joe Cox.
"It was just a little inside zone play that we have," Cox said. "And we knew that if we block it right it could spit and go to the house. ... That was one of the big turning points of the game."
While Arkansas' offensive coaches focused on running the ball withsuccess during preparations, the defense looked to stop Georgia's running attack.
"One little breakdown. One little person not pulling their trigger and making their tackle," Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said of Samuel's touchdown. "... I made a bad call on that one. Put it on me."
The touchdown scamper left a lot of Razorbacks scratching their heads.
"Whenever there's an [80-yard run], there's probably a missed tackle in there somewhere," senior safety Matt Harris said. "All I saw was himrunning down in the end zone."
Meanwhile, the Hogs couldn't do anything in the run game as the Bulldogs totaled 105 yards compared to Arkansas' 5-yard output in the second quarter.
Without Michael Smith for the majority of the Hogs' possessions in the first half, Arkansas went to Dennis Johnson and to the arm of Ryan Mallett to find success. Johnson' longest run was a 6-yard gain, however.
And Mallett set a single-game school record for passing yards and touchdowns, completing 21 of 39 passes for 408 yards and 5 touchdowns.
"It doesn't matter," Mallett said. "I don't care about individual stats. We lost the game. That's all that matters."
It didn't helping having Smith on the sidelines. The senior landed awkwardly on a shoulder and was held out of action for most of the first half, when he carried the ball just once for a 3-yard gain.
"It hurt us," Petrino said. "Dennis did a nice job, but you saw Michael's quickness and speed in the end."
Smith bounced back in the second half, rushing for 12 yards on the Hogs' opening touchdown drive to gain a 28-27 lead. He finished with eight carries for 59 yards, as Johnson didn't gain another touch on offense in the second half.
"We've got to run the ball better," Mallett said. "That's pretty obvious. We ran it better in the second half, but the first half we've got to execute and run the ball better. It's that simple."
Perhaps most frustrating for Arkansas was its knowledge of Georgia's defensive schemes, and philosophy and use of its defensive line. After a pre-season of focusing on the Bulldogs, and a bye week to prepare, Petrino was disappointed in the end product.
Less than a week after saying he was proud of his offensive line for gelling with the running backs, Petrino showed disappointment as the week neared its end late Saturday night.
The Bulldogs moved their defensive front and linemen ran free from the line of scrimmage, Petrino explained. Meanwhile, the defensive ends hardly rushed the quarterback, waiting for Arkansas to run draw plays and throw screens.
"That was disappointing because we knew they were going to move it. That's what they do," Petrino said. "... And they did it."
Sports, Pages 9, 8 on 09/21/2009