Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

9/18/2010 at 11:00pm

ATHENS, Ga. - It's easy to pick out the biggest play in Arkansas' 31-24 win over Georgia under a brutally hot sun Saturday in Sanford Stadium. It's the play ESPN and CBS starting showing over and over the rest of the day: junior receiver Greg Childs' 40-yard catch and run, with an all-world juke at the sideline and sprint to the game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds left, after Arkansas had let a 14-point quarter lead go.

The second biggest, on a day in which Arkansas' special teams were Southeastern Conference quality in every way, had to be Dylan Breeding's 57-yard punt and an immediate tackle by the punt team at the Georgia 34 that changed the field with Georgia's crowd turned up to 11 and the Bulldogs with all of the game's momentum on their side, and just 2:28 to play.

How many times, on the road, in a big game, as the contest turned against Arkansas, have we seen a pressure-packed punt like this only reached maybe to midfield, and oftentimes less, and the game-winning field goal follow?

Georgia managed a 10-yard carry by Washaun Ealey on the first play from the 34, but then defensive coordinator Willy Robinson called up two line stunts for sacks, the first by nose tackle Alfred Davis, the second by end Jake Bequette of the good-scrambling Aaron Murray for a loss of 8 yards back to the Bulldogs 42, forcing a punt. The roar in Sanford Stadium suddenly quieted.

With 54 seconds left, we were going to overtime. Surely we were all headed to overtime at 24-all, right?

Uh, nope. Bobby Petrino did not sit on the football with 46 seconds left in the first half at his own 20, and he got a critical 48-yard field goal from his precocious freshman Zach Hocker for the aggressiveness. He wasn't going to take a knee now, even with his team 73 yards away from a touchdown, maybe 45 yards away from a field goal.

Fifty-four seconds was an eternity for the third-year Arkansas coach, returning to Georgia for the first time since he left the Atlanta Falcons late one night in December 2007 for the Razorback job, and so wanting this victory in the Peach State, where Atlantians still curse him. He was not playing for overtime.

Greg Childs, meanwhile, wasn't playing for a field goal.

Mallett, against the fierce Georgia pass rush in the fourth quarter, seemed to be thinking more than just playing on the few pass calls he had in the last nine minutes. This time, he let his talent take over and just winged it downfield, with the first two tosses going to his newfound friend/receiver, senior tight end D.J. Williams, for 33 yards.

Then, from the Georgia 40, everyone in the stadium guessed "sideline route" to one of the Hogs' wideouts to get closer for a Hocker game-winning attempt.

Childs, after catching Mallett's dart, could have turned right to step out and stop the clock. The Georgia defensive back took a bad angle, and Childs seemed to sense it, wheeling instead to his left and back upfield, where he had nothing but green turf the rest of the way to break the tie.

Arkansas covered the 73 yards without burning a timeout and without the clock stopping except for the chains to move. Williams even used second and third effort, like he does during the other parts of the game as well when time isn't of such essence, that used up precious seconds.

No matter. Mallett was as cool on that three-play drive as he had been for most of three-plus quarters Saturday. His brilliant play fake on third-and-1 fooled nearly everyone in the stadium, and Chris Gragg, yet another receiver from Warren like Childs, was all alone for a 57-yard scoring catch on the game's first series. Mallett's touch was splendid on a late-first-quarter-early-second-quarter march, and his 18-yard toss to Williams set up Knile Davis' 1-yard plunge.

Georgia apparently thought so little of Ronnie Wingo as a running back, the Dawgs completely ignored him when he ran a "wheel" route against the defensive flow, and Mallett lofted a 22-yard toss to the sophomore for a 24-10 Hogs lead late in the third quarter. A 34-yard catch and run by Joe Adams, the best player on the field most of the day, had set the score up.

Perhaps with an SEC powerhouse defense, especially against a redshirt freshman quarterback like Aaron Murray, or maybe with one of those dominating Arkansas defenses from way back in the glory days now 40 or so years past, a 14-point lead with 10 minutes left would have been enough, even on the road. About the only way Georgia was going to come back was if Arkansas let the Bulldogs make a couple of big plays to get the crowd and players ignited.

So, really, who couldn't see this coming? Arkansas defensive backs seriously underestimated the speed and route-running ability of senior receiver Kris Durham, who beat the Hogs on post routes for 46 and 35 yards to set up short touchdowns, and the game was back on with 3:55 to play. Give Murray credit for stepping up, as Mallett would minutes later, and not think but just wing it with nothing to lose to his talented hands. The Dawgs made some terrific grabs of the freshman's throws all day.

In fact, many Arkansas fans were probably envisioning the complete choke job and the defense suddenly reverted to last year's sieve against Georgia, or the way it couldn't stop Florida in the fourth quarter on the road. Everything built over 50 minutes would go to waste.

Instead, after Arkansas continued to implode (procedure penalties, sack of Mallett, incompletion to receiver stepping out of bounds) Breeding turned the field and Bequette's sack turned the momentum back to Petrino, Mallett, Williams and Childs to make it happen like, again, probably no one expected.

So, a 3-0 Arkansas now gets a free shot at home against No. 1 Alabama. Saturday in Sanford Stadium was no free shot; it was a "must" win for the Razorbacks, even if nobody would publicly call it that. A loss - especially a choke job after controlling the game for 50 minutes - followed up by a Bama win in Fayetteville might have derailed the Petrino train completely -- recruiting and growing fan excitement -- and might have had fans even caring about basketball and Midnight Madness again.

This game was that big, but it had to be earned: all 60 minutes of it, not 50, and in hostile surroundings against a talented team refusing to fall to 0-2 in the SEC. Arkansas passed the test. The Hogs did it because they made every placement they had with a freshman, Hocker, including the big field goal at the end of the half; the now dependable kickoff man, Alex Tejada, boomed his kicks high and long and often unreturnable; sophomore punter Dylan Breeding was as good as any SEC team could hope for; punt return Joe Adams scared Georgia to death and had one touchdown runback called back, and quarterback Ryan Mallett put on a 39-second performance that had to have pro scouts drooling and counting the days until next April's NFL Draft.

Tagged: D.J. Williams, Knile Davis, Ronnie Wingo Jr., Greg Childs, Alex Tejada, Zach Hocker, Dylan Breeding, Georgia Bulldogs, Ryan Mallett, Bobby Petrino