Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Georgia’s defense has rip-roaring time
Mark Richt isn’t ready to assume that his Georgia defense will force enough turnovers to change the course of a game every week, but he might consider readjusting his expectations.
Georgia allowed Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen to pass for a career-high 296 yards Saturday, but it turned four turnovers into three touchdowns that allowed the Bulldogs to pull away for a 4532 victory at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
“I would love to know we’d get four turnovers a game from here on in,” Richt said. “I’d start making plans, but I don’t know if you can count on that.”
At least his defense has shown the ability to do that the past two games.
Georgia’s defense forced five turnovers while its offense didn’t commit any in last week’s 34- 0 victory at Missouri, and the production was similar Saturday as the Bulldogs intercepted Allen twice and recovered two fumbles, one of which was returned for a 54-yard touchdown by freshman defensive back Dominick Sanders.
“We work hard on those,” Richt said. “It’s paying off.”
Its ability to steal possessions might be the biggest reason Georgia has won consecutive SEC road games and sits alone atop the SEC East standings.
With a 31- 6 lead in the second quarter Saturday, Jordan Jenkins sacked Allen and stripped the ball, which allowed Sanders to scoop it up and sprint 54 yards for a score. That was Georgia’s third takeaway of the game and its 16th of the season, surpassing last year’s total with five regular- season games remaining.
The Bulldogs led the SEC in turnover margin even before improving it to plus-13 Saturday. A year ago, the Bulldogs forced only 15 turnovers and their minus-7 margin was 13th in the SEC as they struggled to an 8-5 finish.
Free safety Damian Swann said the difference in ap- proaching takeaways changed this season when defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was hired away from Florida State.
“Since Coach Pruitt has been here, it’s been give the ball back to our offense,” Swann said. “If we give the offense the ball, we know they’re going to score points. We know they’re going to have success.”
On Arkansas’ series before Jenkins’ fumble return, running back Alex Collins had a pitch bounce off his hands and outside lineback- er Leonard Floyd fell on it at the Arkansas 7. It took Georgia one play for Hutson Mason to connect with Michael Bennett in the back of the end zone.
Arkansas also was driving on its last possession of the second quarter until Allen’s pass intended for tight end Hunter Henry floated too high and Swann came down with it in the back of the end zone.
“It’s turning into muscle memory,” Floyd said. “We’re coming into a game and we’re wrapping up and scooping up the ball without even hesitating.”
Floyd, who also had 10 tackles and a sack, said not only do the Bulldogs work on turnovers each Tuesday and Wednesday, coaches will call for a play to be run again if defenders aren’t trying to strip the ball.
“You’re trying to create some habits and good fundamentals,” Richt said. “You tackle in such a way where you rip the ball out. You can get a sack, or you can get a sack and a fumble.
“We work hard on those.”