FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart makes no bones about entering into road SEC environments with an aggressive approach.
That was on display at Arkansas on Saturday, as the Bulldogs scored on three of their first four possessions en route to a 45-17 win, keeping Smart perfect (11-0) in SEC openers as Georgia’s coach.
Smart has the highest winning percentage among SEC coaches in history (.850) and also has the longest active win streak against unranked teams in college football (51) and 29 road wins in a row over unranked competition.
“You can’t go in fearful, you’ve got to go in there to dominate, take over the place, run the people out of there,” said Smart, moments after leaving a mostly empty Razorback Stadium behind him as he exited the field. “You have to be smart about how you go about it. You can’t take uncalculated risks, you can’t turn the ball over on the road.”
Quarterback Gunner Stockton took care of that, completing 10-of-13 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for a career-high 97 yards on seven carries, including a 62-yard scamper.
“I probably did the least (on the run). It was the easiest part of my job, everyone else had some really good blocks,” Stockton said in his TV interview, citing receiver London Humphreys and offensive guard Dontrell Glover.
“I just tried get to the edge and run — ran out of gas, but got a good run.”
It was the Razorbacks’ (1-2) 12th consecutive loss against SEC competition, dating back to a 58-25 win over Mississippi State on Oct. 26, 2024, when former UGA offensive lineman coach Sam Pittman was still the coach at Arkansas.
The Razorbacks scored their two touchdowns after Georgia started pulling its starting defense with a 38-3 lead in the fourth quarter.
Nate Frazier had 14 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown and Chauncey Bowens had three rushing touchdowns, finishing with 11 carries for 39 yards.
Georgia breezed to a 21-3 lead at halftime, playing its starters into the third quarter for the first time this season before mass substitutions in the fourth quarter.
The Razorbacks accumulated nearly half their total yards (142 of 300) after the majority of the Bulldogs starters were out.
Through three quarters, with UGA defensive starters in, Arkansas had just 158 yards on 38 plays.
Offensively, Ryan Puglisi came on in relief of Stockton in the fourth quarter and threw his third career touchdown pass on a 2-yard strike to Lawson Luckie to close out the UGA scoring.
The Bulldogs’ next game is at Sanford Stadium against No. 24-ranked Oklahoma on Sept. 26 at 3:30 p.m.
The Razorbacks return to action next Saturday when they host American Athletic Conference-member Tulsa at 7 p.m.
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