Like It Is

OPINION | WALLY HALL: This one was all but decided after coin toss

Arkansas won the coin toss and nothing else.

The team that beat ranked Texas and Texas A&M to go to 4-0 was dominated from start to finish by the Georgia Bulldogs.

Dominated on the scoreboard and every statistic. Georgia had to make only 51 tackles and Arkansas 84.

Georgia had 345 yards to 162 (and 52 of were against subs in the fourth quarter). The Bulldogs had 22 first downs, Arkansas 9.

The picture was clear, it was not as close as the 37-0 final score.

Georgia ran 67 plays and more than half were in Razorback territory.

This game was all about Georgia who may be a on a bullet train to the national championship.

It was about the team who in the last five years has signed 23 5-star players and 73 4-stars.

Dan Jackson, who blocked the punt for the Bulldogs that was recovered for a touchdown, is on speciality teams and he is a 5-star recruit.

On the flip side of that, Arkansas' special teams were not special.

Georgia was expected to be good, just not that good.

In no way should this reflect on what Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks have accomplished. They just ran into a team that was deeply talented, big and fast.

Pittman should still be the front-runner for national coach of the year honors, but there are seven games left.

A positive for the Razorbacks was they never quit. They fought to the bitter end, but held to 79 yards rushing was indicative of how good this Bulldog defense is, and the scary thing is they are improving every week.

Arkansas could play Georgia 10 times -- preferably not though -- and while they would score, they probably wouldn't win.

Arkansas hadn't been shut out since the 2018 regular-season finale to Missouri (38-0).

Now, this team gets to find out how tough it is mentally.

It has two choices: Go back to the pre-Pittman days, or put this one behind them, forget it totally, and get ready for a road game at Ole Miss.

It starts with knowing Georgia really is that good.

That they may not have been David but you didn't back down from Goliath.

By far it was the biggest challenge of the season, and even though no one knew it, it was over early.

When Georgia led 14-0 it had 114 yards to minus-4 for the Hogs.

The Razorbacks literally opened the game with back-to-back penalties for false starts on their first possession.

Not that it would have changed the outcome, but the Razorbacks shot themselves in the foot with penalties.

Officially they had 13 for 101 yards, but they also had three penalties declined and two more offset because Georgia had a penalty, too.

That will cost you wins against teams you should beat.

They certainly can't do that against Ole Miss this Saturday. They need to come into that game clear-eyed and focused on stopping a potent passing attack.

There are no easy games in the SEC West, but Saturday's was against the Beast of the East.

Kirby Smart mostly called the Dogs off in the second half, running the ball 28 times on 32 second half plays.

They passed only 11 times total because they didn't need to pass.

If Arkansas had played a perfect game it still wasn't going to win.

Make no mistake though, the Razorbacks are still vastly improved over the last five years.

The leadership is there, with the coaches and the players.

No one was more disappointed than those kids, and you have to believe they will make the right decision about where they are headed.

It probably won't happen today, but soon, very soon, they are going to turn that jukebox on.

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