One More for the Road

The Dawgs won in improbable fashion last night. [Raise your hand if you had money on Georgia scoring more than 30 points? Exactly.] As with the previous two games, it was a mixed bag containing a few great things, a lot of good things, and plenty of bad things. But, a win is a win.

The Good:

• Joe Cox. His five touchdown performance was impressive (including 18-26 passing for 375 yards!). Early in the game, Cox rallied the offense to answer the Razorback lead. He kept the game from ever getting out of hand and prevented the Dawgs from having a hole too deep to escape. What was particularly impressive to me was the number of long passes he on which he connected. Each of Cox's five touchdown passes was for at least 21 yards (including a 50-yarder and a 44-yarder). Hats off the the Ginger Ninja.
  
• The Receivers. AJ Green is simply amazing. He may wind up as the best receiver to ever come through the program. His touchdown catch last night was another in what is becoming a tradition of athletic marvels. In the second half, Michael Moore stepped up and made clutch catches for to help secure the game. And Tavarres King shook off some miscues to haul in a beautiful 50-yard scoring strike.
  
• The Tight Ends. Aron White and Orson Charles gave Cox viable options to beat the Razorback pass rush. White and Charles each had a touchdown, as well as some big catches along the way.

The Bad:

• The Secondary. Georgia entered the game ranked 78th in pass defense. The defense allowed 41 points and 408-yards through the air. Will we even be in the top 100 this week? David Ching does a nice job analyzing the defense. I agree with him: but for the prolific display of offense, the post mortem on this game would be wailing and gnashing of teeth about our pass defense.
  
• The Penalties. With 194 combined penalty yards, both teams were pretty terrible in this department. I think nearly every offensive lineman had a false start, and there were way too many holding calls. This was allegedly an area of intense focus during during the off-season, but we appear to be getting worse in this area. We have to improve here.
  
• The Turnovers. This game would have been an Old Testament-style beatdown if we hadn't let Arkansas stay close with points off turnovers. The first three turnovers resulted in Razorback scores. When Boykin and Miller flubbed the first punt and wasted an impressive stop by the defense, I thought we were in for a long night. The good guys scored 17 unanswered after that, so credit the whole team for not letting early mistakes dictate the flow of the game. But still, we have to quit making it harder for ourselves than it has to be. If memory serves, we were ranked 116th in turnover margin before the game. If we turn the ball over 3-4 times against LSU or the Gators, they'll bury us.

This and That:

• The field goal to end the second half should have been a touchdown. I can't believe the officials reviewing this play concluded Greg Childs didn't have possession of the ball when Vance Cuff returned his fumble for a touchdown. Childs had hauled the ball into his gut when it was knocked loose. Fortunately, these four pilfered points weren't needed.
  
• We may look back on this game as the pivotal game for Joe Cox's confidence. This is his team now. We've got a winnable game at home against Arizona State. We've seen a glimpse of what this team is capable of; now let's see if we can put all the pieces together.
• Friendly tailgating reminder for next week: Please clean up after yourselves.