LITTLE ROCK — At the end of the third quarter Saturday, Arkansas trailed Georgia 42-38 and the Razorbacks had the ball.
The third period was the only one the Razorbacks dominated in time of possession, but some of that was the willingness of Bobby Petrino to attack the Bulldogs hard and fast on the ground, when Arkansas running backs had seven of their 18 carries for the game.
In the opening quarter, the Hogs scored on passes of 18, 48 and 30 yards, the last two of those touchdowns coming on one-play drives.
After the penalty fiasco, the Razorbacks went flat on offense and defense, giving up 17 consecutive points to end the half.
Whatever was said at halftime snapped the Razorbacks' attention back to the game at hand, and they had drives of 66 and 60 yards for touchdowns and a 65-yard drive that ended with a field goal.
The final quarter became a head-scratcher after the Hogs drove 48 yards to the Georgia 12, where they had first-and-10.
They had to settle for a 23-yard field goal and trailed 49-41. The Hogs held the Bulldogs, who kept it on the ground to eat up the clock, but they had no answer for a 64-yard punt by Drew Butler.
That put the Hogs 91 yards away from the Georgia end zone, and suddenly, for the first time that night, the Razorbacks seemed tired.
Going into the fourth quarter, Ryan Mallett was 19 of 29 passing. In the final period, he was 2 of 10.
Through three quarters, the Razorbacks had totaled 433 yards but they managed only 52 net yards in the last period.
In hindsight, which is always 20-20, perhaps Tyler Wilson should have shouldered some of the minutes. Mallett might not have ever played 23 minutes in the first three quarters in his life.
Still, 41 points and 485 yards of offense should be good enough to win, and a sour man Bob Holt's research proved, the Razorbacks were 139-1 when scoring 40 or more points going into the Georgia game.
Obviously, the problem is not the offense, which, believe it or not, will improve.
The questions are about the defense. Its performance led to a barrage of e-mails that included the words "Free Willy."
As in replace Willy Robinson as defensive coordinator, which is premature at this point.
Granted, there were times it looked as if the defensive players were trying to learn an all-new scheme, but the way they played after Jerry Franklin was ejected in the second quarter was not the same way they played with him. Georgia had 86 yards of offense during the time when Franklin was playing. As soon as he was gone, the Bulldogs ran right at his spot for an 80-yard touchdown. Georgia had 444 yards of offense after Franklin's ejection.
Franklin's temper got him thrown out, and with him on the sideline, the Razorbacks' defense missed his leadership. He calls many of the defensive schemes.
An official said Franklin bumped him from behind, and that was on the heels of Franklin getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The official then hit him with a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and tossed him.
Apparently, Franklin did bump the official because Petrino said Monday it happened, and while Franklin will not be disciplined by the SEC, he will be punished privately.
There was no excuse for what Franklin did, but at the same time, he's not a young man who has had a lot of problems.
The only headaches he's caused have been to running backs and receivers.
He started every game as a redshirt freshman last season and had 87 tackles and two interceptions, plus two fumble recoveries.
Admittedly, that was on a pretty thin defensive team, and Petrino and staff tried to shore up some positions through recruiting, but the toughest transition from high school to college may be as a defensive back.
The bottom line was obvious Saturday: With Jerry Franklin, the defense is better than a year ago; without him, it isn't.
Sports, Pages 13 on 09/22/2009