Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
On crash course
Run-heavy Arkansas, No. 10 Georgia to fight it out in Little Rock.
Two SEC teams with similar styles but contrasting plights collide today at War Memorial Stadium.
Arkansas brings the 10thranked rushing offense into the 3 p. m. kickoff against Georgia, the 10th- ranked team in the polls, which has the nation’s No. 11 rushing offense.
It is a matchup that pits Arkansas (3-3, 0-3), the lastplace team from the mighty SEC West, vs. Georgia (5-1, 3-1), the first-place team from the less-respected East.
To complicate matters, Georgia will be without top tailback Todd Gurley, who has been suspended while Georgia and the NCAA look into reports he accepted payment for signing memorabilia. Media outlets in Georgia reported Friday that the Bulldogs departed for central Arkansas without Gurley because the NCAA committee on eligibility has not had time to deliberate the findings of Georgia’s internal investigation.
Odds makers have taken Gurley’s absence and Arkansas’ improvement under Coach Bret Bielema into consideration when making Georgia a 3 ½-point favorite in its first Little Rock appearance, which might be the last appearance by an SEC opponent at War Memorial, the Razorbacks’ home away from home.
The cross-divisional SEC matchup, one of two for each team, appears to show the differing strengths of the league’s two divisions.
Georgia is in position to play its way into the SEC Championship Game, while Arkansas is alone in last place in the SEC West and riding a 15-game losing streak in conference games. The teams are meeting for the first since Arkansas’ 31-24 victory in Athens, Ga., in 2010.
The SEC West is 26- 0 in games outside the division (22-0 in nonconference games, 4-0 in games against the East), and this game projects as the only one remaining this season where the
SEC West team won’t be favored.
“We have a lot of pride in being in the SEC, but in the SEC West that is a really, really special deal,” Bielema said. “Georgia has been really good for a long time.”
Arkansas might not have speed back Korliss Marshall, who suffered a deep thigh bruise last week, and the Razorbacks will be without middle linebacker Brooks El- lis, who had a bone bruise on his knee last week.
Arkansas held fourth-quarter leads on then-No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 7 Alabama in its past two games, but execution errors, penalties and bad luck kept its lengthy losing streak going.
“Coach Bielema is putting together a very fine football team,” Georgia Coach Mark Richt said. “All you have to do is turn on the film to see that these guys are getting coached, that these guys are playing hard, and that these guys have a lot of ability.”
The Bulldogs and Hogs have shown the ability to dominate on the ground, but key runners on both sides will be missing, limited or coming off poor performances.
Arkansas leads the SEC with 278.7 rushing yards per game. But Alabama limited the Hogs to 89 rushing yards last week and leading rusher Alex Collins produced 13 yards and lost a fumble after being suspended for the first quarter.
Georgia is No. 2 in the SEC in rushing (275.7 ypg), and it excelled without Gurley, Keith Marshall (ankle, knee) and Sony Michel (shoulder) in last week’s 34-0 victory at Missouri, which put the Bulldogs back in control in the East.
Freshman Nick Chubb filled in for Gurley with 143 yards and 1 touchdown on 38 carries, and was backed by Brendan Douglas’ 65 yards and a touchdown.
“Whoever they have out there, we’ll be prepared to play,” Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. “The focus this week has been on us.”
Georgia’s run defense has been stout, allowing 101.7 yards per game to rank No. 12 in the country. If the Bulldogs can force Arkansas into passing, as Alabama did last week, they can unleash a harassing rush, led by outside linebackers Leonard Floyd and Jenkins, that has 69 quarterback hurries.
“They’ve got a couple of cheetah cats coming off the edge,” Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. “They can really fly. … It’ll be a hell of a task for us again.”
Arkansas’ defense had an encouraging showing last week by holding Alabama’s to 66 yards and 227 total yards, a season-low for the Hogs’ defense.
“When you go back and watch the tape of the last games we’ve played, you see a different type of attitude,” Arkansas defensive end Trey Flowers said. “You see a lot of guys flying to the football.
“We pride ourselves on stopping the run and things of that nature, so when you see things like that, you know that we can hang with the best of them in the SEC. It’s just a matter of finishing.”