UGA Football: Post Game Notes – Georgia vs. Arkansas

Defense Dominates Again With Historic Shutout Of Top 10 Team: For only the third time in school history and the first time since 1976, Georgia posted a shut out a top 10 team with a 37-0 victory over No. 8 Arkansas. It was the first time since 1980 that the Bulldogs had back-to-back shutouts of SEC opponents, doing it against Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Today Georgia posted its seventh shutout in the Kirby Smart era and the fifth in an SEC game.

The other shutouts of top 10 teams came when No. 6 Georgia blanked No. 10 Alabama 21-0 here in 1976, and in 1942, the No. 5 Bulldogs shut out No. 2 Ga. Tech 34-0 here. The Razorbacks finished with 156 yards of total offense (75-rushing, 87-passing) and came in averaging 35.8 points a game.

Georgia leads the nation in Scoring Defense, allowing just 4.6 points per game. Opponents now have scored just 23 points on the Bulldogs this year.

The Bulldogs are now 12-6 against top 10 foes under Kirby Smart including 4-0 at home. Georgia improved to 4-2 when ESPN College GameDay is in town including winning its last four. The Bulldogs are 5-0 under Smart for the third time (2017-19).

Leading Tacklers and Sack Masters: Georgia’s leading tacklers today were Devonte Wyatt with six along with Adam Anderson and Channing Tindall with five apiece. Also, they got a total of four sacks from Wyatt (1.5), Nakobe Dean (1.5) and Anderson (1). Dean has 3.5 for the year and those were the first for Wyatt this year. Anderson has a team-best four sacks this year.

Quick Start For Offense:  Georgia QB Stetson Bennett made his second start this year (in place of JT Daniels who has been dealing with a lat issue) and finished 7-for-11 for 72 yards. Georgia marched down the field on its opening drive, going 75 yards in nine plays in 4:14 for a 7-0 lead. The drive was capped by a three-yard run by Zamir White, his third of the year and 17th of his career. On the second possession, Georgia went 56 yards on nine plays in 4:38 for another TD, this one by Kendall Milton, his first of career. During this drive, the Bulldogs converted a 4th-and-1 at the 35 when White rushed for three yards. Georgia built a 14-0 lead with 4:34 left in the first quarter.

Coming in Saturday, Arkansas had not allowed any points in the first quarter, outscoring their foes 34-0. Today, Georgia led 21-0 after the first.

Focused on Rushing Attack: Georgia tallied 345 yards of total offense including 273 on the ground, rushing the ball a season-high 57 times. That was the most rushing attempts in the Kirby Smart era. James Cook led the attack with 87 yards on 12 carries. Zamir White had a team-high 16 carries for 68 yards and two TDs. On its first drive of the second half, Georgia started at the UA 46 and used 10 rushing plays for 33 yards before making a 30-yard field goal and a 27-0 lead. White’s 15-yard TD scamper made it 34-0 with 12:12 left. It culminated a season-high 11 play drive that went 93 yards in 5:50

Special Teams Summary: Senior punter Jake Camarda had two punts for a 43.5 yard average and handled the kickoffs. Junior Jack Podlesny was 4-for-4 on PATs to improve to 26-for-26 this season plus he was 3-for-3 in field goals as they covered 47 yards, a season long, a 30-yarder and a 37-yarder.  He is 7-for-9 in FG this year.

In the first quarter, redshirt sophomore DB Dan Jackson blocked an Arkansas punt, and it was recovered by Zamir White in the end zone to make it 21-0. Before today, the last time Georgia blocked a punt was against Arkansas last year by Zamir White. The last blocked punt returned for a TD before today was Eric Stokes at Missouri in 2018. Georgia now has five special teams TDs in the Kirby Smart era.

For Starters, Game Captains & Helmet Decal: Georgia did not have any first-time starters today. The captains were seniors James Cook (RB) and Jamaree Salyer (LT) and junior Christopher Smith (DB). Arkansas won the toss and elected to defer the football until the second half. Georgia took part in College Football Mental Health Awareness Week (Oct. 2-9) by wearing a special helmet decal to declare #MentalHealthMatters.

Series History & Up Next: With the 37-0 win, No. 2 Georgia now has a 12-4 edge in the series history over Arkansas. This marked the first shutout in the series history with Arkansas and the largest margin of victory with the series going back to the 1969 Sugar Bowl.

Georgia (5-0, 3-0 SEC) returns to action Saturday at Auburn. Kickoff will be at either Noon ET (ESPN) or 3:30 pm ET (CBS).