Georgia Football Gets Grades After Blowout Win over Arkansas

Kirby Smart told reporters after the game how pleased he was with the toughness of his team.

Georgia Football QB Gunner Stockton runs against Arkansas. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

FAYETTEVILLE - No. 2 Georgia Football won another game by blowout - this time over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Kirby Smart told reporters after the game how pleased he was with the toughness of his team, but he did have areas where he thinks the Bulldogs can improve.

Grading Georgia Football

Each week we will take a look at the position groups of the Bulldogs and assign a grade for the Bulldogs based on their performance. Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs are now 3-0 after a 45-17 win over Arkansas.

QUARTERBACKS | A-

It was another stellar day for Gunner Stockton. He’s still thrown more touchdowns on the season than incomplete passes. Stockton finished Saturday going 10 of 13 for 147 yards with a touchdown.

Stockton burned Arkansas several times running. He was sacked three times, but ripped off a 61-yard run, which was the play of the game for either team. Stockton ended the win over Arkansas with 97 total yards rushing.

With that said, Stockton made a mistake near the end zone that Smart said he wants cleaned up.

“Probably the most disappointing thing was the first and goal at the two, where Gunner's go to make a better decision,” Smart said. “The (running) backs have to know what he's doing, and get rid of the ball. So we're second and two at the two. We're not going backwards.”

Meanwhile, backup Ryan Puglisi was 7 of 8 for 63 yards with a touchdown pass to Lawson Luckie. Puglisi looked the best he has this season under center.

RUNNING BACKS | A

Chauncey Bowens scored three touchdowns as Georgia’s run game racked up 254 yards. Arkansas couldn’t stop anything wide all day long.

“I think he’s a violent runner. He likes contact,” Smart said of Bowens. “He seeks contact. He got the beneficiary of some good blocking on a couple of those.”

Dwight Phillips near burst through for a score early in the game. Still, he ended the blowout win averaging 6.7 yards a carry.

Meanwhile, Nate Frazier left the game after 14 carries and 75 yards.

“Nate had a little ding. It's bothering him,” Smart said before confirming Frazier could have returned to the game had he needed to.

OFFENSIVE LINE | B-

Perhaps that grade is a little hash, but Smart said after the game that he was not happy with the way the Georgia offensive line gave up three sacks against Arkansas.

“90% of the time, you don't overcome a sack,” Smart said after the game. “I think we might have overcome one or two of those. We got really lucky on some )pass interference calls) that, that kind of helped us get a cushion, because those could've been the other way. We're going to get sacked. You're going to get sacked. You throw the ball and you're explosive, you're going to give up sacks. It's just you don't want to give up many of them.”

It is the second year in a row that the Bulldogs have started a true freshman on the road in SEC play. Smart said he wants to see continued development from the younger players on the offense line.

“You know had a stupid penalty and just have to keep getting better is what they have to do,” he said of the line. “But they're certainly talented young men that have to keep improving. We're going to need them to improve in areas if we're going to beat really good teams.”

RECEIVERS | B+

It was a relatively quiet day against Arkansas for the Dawgs’ passing machine. Craig Dandridge flashed a few times, including on a 61-yard touchdown pass from Stockton near the start of the fourth quarter.

“Craig is very smart, he's very intelligent, he's savvy. He plays fast. He catches the ball, and he runs after the catch. He made a great catch on a bubble pass that probably shouldn't have caught,” Smart said. “Then he caught the big over and broke a tackle. So we tell our guys all the time: ‘If you catch the ball well and you break tackles, you're going to get touches.’”

Tight end Lawson Luckie had three catches for 33 yards with a touchdown. Sacovie White-Helton led the Dawgs with four receptions.

RUN DEFENSE | A++

Arkansas had no chance to move the ball consistently Saturday because the Hogs could not run effectively. Georgia limited the Hogs to 17 yards on 20 carries. The longest run from the Razorbacks was a six-yard run from Jelani Watkins.

Georgia was impressive stopping the run Saturday, and that could be a bad sign for future foes.

PASS RUSH | C-

Georgia got three sacks, but Smart said he is not happy with the way UGA is getting to the quarterback - or not getting to the quarterback in this case.

“We have to rush the passer better. That was what got me,” Smart admitted. “We didn't affect the quarterback enough defensively, in my opinion. He got to hold it. Again, we can all do better.”

Georgia will face quarterbacks in the next three games that can really run. If the Dawgs can’t start getting signal callers to the ground it could make for games being more connotative than they should be in the coming weeks.

PASS DEFENSE | B

The Hogs threw it early and often, but didn’t do anything against Georgia’s No. 1 unit. Demello Jones had a tough start to the game, but Smart said he recovered to play well as the game went on. He ended the day leading the team with six tackles.

“He was a lot sharper second half,” Smart said.

UGA limited Arkansas in the first have, but wound up giving up 283 yards passing through the air - hardly a poor performance. Considering the Hogs’ inability to run, limiting an SEC foe to under 300 yards passing in a blowout game is perfectly fine.

Georgia might not be tested through the air a ton these next few weeks.

SPECIAL TEAMS | A+

Smart admitted he was trying to save money by not playing London Humphreys on special teams, because he claims Humphreys has incentives in his NIL contract for plays he makes on special teams.

“I keep trying to take him off to save money, and it's not working,” Smart said.

No it isn’t. Humphreys blocked a punt Saturday. Smart said he’s impressed with wide receiver.

“He's the highest character kid on the team. He'll do whatever he can to help the team,” Smart said. “He never complains about anything. He's one of the best blockers. He’s you know, he's got a deal in his NIL incentive. The more special teams he plays, the more money he gets. So he wants to be on special teams. He wants to play every snap of special teams.”