HOG BLOG: Dawgs feast on Hogs
Georgia dominated Arkansas from start to finish on Saturday, humbling the Razorbacks and looking like a team bound for Atlanta.
By: Wild Hog
Not much else could have gone wrong for Arkansas against the Bulldogs. (Photo: via Yahoo Sports)
Let’s talk numbers.
37. That’s the number of unanswered points Georgia scored.
13. That’s the number of penalties on the Razorbacks this weekend, adding to a tied-for-second-worst in the country FORTY-NINE total penalties this season.
3. That’s the number of flags on a SINGLE play called against the Hogs.
340. That’s the number of pounds Georgia nose guard Jordan Davis weighs.
This guy is my new sleep paralysis demon. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
11. That’s the number of passes that backup QB Stetson Bennett IV attempted against the Hogs, for only 72 total passing yards.
Four sacks. Seven tackles for a loss. Six points for a blocked punt. EIGHT forced punts. I could go on, but I think you’re starting to get the picture.
Georgia absolutely slaughtered the Hogs, and they didn’t even have to try that hard. It was like shooting fish in a barrel except the barrel was one of those hog-catcher machines. Who needs an AR-15 to fend off feral hogs when you can literally just call a Georgia lineman?
Frankly, the Hogs needed this wake up call. We played sloppy, we came in overconfident, and we were simply not prepared for the sheer physicality of a Top-10 opponent, much less one who will very likely compete in a New Year’s Six game if not the National Championship. Their respective offensive and defensive lines literally manhandled us all. damn. day. I mean look at this drive for Arkansas’s first possession:
False start, ball moved to the 12
False start, ball moved to the 7
Trelon Smith 2-yd run.
KJ Jefferson sacked for a 6-yd loss
Incomplete screen to Treylon Burks
Punt
16-yd pass
Backed up into our own end zone, deep in the heart of the Georgia student section, the Hogs started their game with two consecutive false starts. I mean sheesh, we even let their FANS beat us. You should’ve heard the cheer that erupted from behind the hedges on that second false start. Georgia fans knew they were in our heads from then on, and they never let off the gas.
This game was suffocating for Hogs on both sides of the ball. They had 7 scoring plays. We had none. They had 22 first downs. We had 9. A typically dominant Razorback run game was held to 75 total yards, while they ran all over us for 273. I cannot stress enough how humbling it is to watch your lines get absolutely bullied by grown-ass men. At one point, a Georgia tackle brought down three Hogs. By himself. What the hell. On the other side of the ball, we could not stop any of their run game, and missed tackles left and right the whole game.
That Georgia player on special teams is a 5-star recruit. (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Postgame, Coach Pittman admitted some hard truths, acknowledging that “they dominated us,” and “they just whipped us physically. It was not guys in the backfield turned loose and we couldn’t get off blocks.”
The recruiting for teams like Georgia and Alabama alone means they are able to field teams with higher ceilings. Georgia’s roster is stacked with 5-star recruits, including the special teams player who blocked our punt for a touchdown. Since the 90s, the Razorbacks have recruited five 5-stars. Total.
This defensive unit Georgia is fielding is scary. Daunting. Terrifying. Whatever you want to call it, they are all that and then some. I firmly believe their unit can stop anyone in the country. If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that Sam Pittman built the O-line that just dominated us, so maybe that type of physicality is in our future.
But enough about Georgia. This is a Hog Blog, so I’m gonna talk about my damn pigs no matter how bad it hurts.
As I said earlier, this game was a necessary wake up call. Razorbacks and their fans have not been accustomed to success for awhile now, and maaaybe we let a #8 ranking get to our heads a bit. Alabama and Georgia are playing in a different league, and while our 4-0 start was nothing to shake a stick at, the resume was not necessarily a cadre of world-beaters. The most important thing after this weekend is to show up to practice and not let Georgia beat us for two weeks in a row. New week, new game, Ole Miss.
This is another tough opponent, one who is experiencing the same sort of identity crisis as us after a humbling loss to Bama, and we’ll be heading into another electric atmosphere in Oxford. Our boys need to learn from the mistakes this week and sharpen up. We can live with penalties against a non-conference opponent like Rice and come out on top, but 13 penalties for 100+ yards just ain’t gonna cut it against SEC opponents.
The name of the game this week is discipline. I firmly believe we are the better team going into Week 6, and this is the perfect opportunity to show how we bounce back from a tough loss. A 9-3 season is still very much a possibility for this team, and even 8-4 would surpass pre-season expectations by a wide margin.
I’m sure we’ll be vindicated when the Bulldogs win the National Championship, so until we see them again, good game, Go Hogs, and as always…
Turn that damn jukebox up!