FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas' 37-0 SEC loss Saturday at Georgia became just a matter of time.
Offensively too little time for the Razorbacks on the Sanford Stadium field in Athens, Ga. Just 23:30. And obviously too few points. Zero.
It marked the first shutout pitched against Arkansas since the 2018 hapless Hogs of Chad Morris finished the first of their two 2-10 overall/0-8 in the SEC campaigns whiffed, 38-0 at Missouri.
Defensively, Arkansas spent way too much time on the Sanford Stadium field. Georgia had the ball 36:30 of the game's 60 minutes.
Had it been hockey, Arkansas spent way too much time in the penalty box.
Arkansas committed 13 penalties not only gifting Georgia, 101 yards but inevitably killing what little momentum Arkansas could generate.
Add special teams woes. Georgia blocked an Arkansas punt, recovering it for a touchdown.
"We just couldn't get off the field on defense early," Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. "And we couldn't get out of the hole on offense and it just snowballed on us."
Especially with Kirby Smart's nationally No. 2 ranked big, bad
Bulldogs rolling the snowball while Arkansas penalties further rolled Georgia along.
Georgia didn't need the help but gladly took it exacerbating the mismatch.
"They just outphysicaled us," Pittman said.
Arkansas had beaten two good teams, then No. 15 Texas in Fayetteville and then No. 7 Texas A&M in the SEC opener at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.
Saturday in Athens they got thumped by a great one. Georgia wields the greatest defense in college football, yielding just 23 points in a 5-0 start. And an offense of Pittman recruited linemen (he coached Georgia's offensive line from 2016-2019) consistently blowing a good Arkansas defense off the ball.
"We've got a good football team," Pittman said. "They've just got a really good football team and we just weren't ready for that evidently. They are the first team I think this year that has beat us up physically."
It was written in this space last week that Arkansas was gaining on Georgia.
Because Georgia started No. 4 close to the top while Arkansas forged from beyond the Twilight Zone. Georgia also opened nationally No. 4 last year when it overcame an early 10-5 third quarter deficit defeating Arkansas 37-10 in the 2020 opener in Fayetteville.
Pittman inherited Hogs wallowed 1-23 their preceding three years in the SEC. He went 3-7 with them in last year's entirely SEC schedule and came close in three others.
This year they zoomed from unmentioned much less unranked to nationally No. 8 last week sharing Georgia's national stage.
Georgia booted them off Broadway. But there's still important SEC stuff off Broadway starting Saturday with now No. 13 Arkansas at previously No. 12 now No. 17 Ole Miss.
Similarly dismissed from the national spotlight last Saturday by No. 1 Alabama, Lane Kiffin's regrouping Rebels and Pittman's regrouping Razorbacks again will be sized up after picking on somebody their own size.