Mark Bradley
Mark Bradley
Little Rock, Ark. -- These short takes off Georgia-Arkansas are presented as a companion to the game column, which can be found here . Georgia won 45-32.
1. Nick Chubb is almost as great as the great Todd Gurley, and that's saying something. The freshman from Cedartown followed his 143-yards-on-38-carries showing against Missouri with an even more spectacular display. He rushed 20 times for 202 yards and two touchdowns. (Gurley's biggest day, FYI, was 208 yards against Tennessee last month.) "He's built for it," coach Mark Richt said of the workload, saying also that Cedartown High "played tough and coached tough." Is it possible to split a Heisman Trophy in two and hand one piece to Gurley and the other to Chubb and have the winner be listed as "Georgia tailback"?
2. This defense bears no resemblance to the hesitant unit that yielded 447 yards and 38 points to South Carolina. Say this for new coordinator Jeremy Pruitt: He watches and learns. The Bulldogs overwhelmed Missouri last week, inducing five turnovers by quarterback Maty Mauk, and destroyed Arkansas in this first half, generating three sacks and three turnovers. Defensive back Dominick Sanders scored on a 54-yard fumble recovery after a Jordan Jenkins sack. "At South Carolina we played soft," Richt said. "After that, Jeremy decided that we might not be ready but we were going to play the ball a certain way."
3. Don't get carried away with Arkansas making it cosmetically close in the second half. Down 38-6 at the half, the Razorbacks closed within 45-32 with 5:05 to play. They didn't touch the ball again. Georgia fielded an onside kick and handed the ball to Chubb, who secured the two needed first downs. (Same as Gurley had done against Tennessee.) The only time the Bulldogs really needed to make a big play in the second half, Hutson Mason and Chris Conley made it. Throwing deep on third-and-4, Mason hit Conley at the left pylon for the 36-yard touchdown that made it 45-26. That's a play that might not have been made three weeks ago.
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