Sunday Teleconference

FOOTBALL

This Saturday the Dawgs will face the Arkansas Razorbacks at home in Sanford Stadium for their second consecutive week of Southeastern Conference play, and coach Mark Richt knows the matchup will be a test for the Dawgs.

During his weekly Sunday conference call with the media, Richt commented on the returning players from Arkansas.

“Their team this year is older and more experienced than last year. They have a lot of great players returning like Jarius Wright, Greg Childs, Joe Adams and D.J. Williams. These players have tremendous skill sets that put their offense in great shape. With Ryan Mallett running it and Bobby Petrino coaching it, the offense is pretty impressive.”

The Dawgs (1-1, 0-1 SEC) will face Arkansas (2-0, 0-0 SEC) Saturday in the Razorbacks Southeastern Conference opener, and Richt said their opponent will come prepared to play.

“Yes, we’ve had that feeling of playing an SEC game already, but Arkansas has many players who understand it, and they have staff that understand what it’s like to play in someone else’s house.”

Arkansas has won both of their games, scoring a total of 75 points and holding their two opponents to only ten total points, while Georgia is coming off a tough loss to South Carolina (17-6). Richt said the Dawgs have some things to improve on before the matchup on Saturday.

“The more balanced we can be in our offensive game the better we will be. We need to block and run better and work on getting more yards after contact. We also have to learn our personnel better and continue to improve up front. I would like to get Justin Anderson and Kwame Geathers in there more and find the right combination.”

Georgia has won the last six meetings with Arkansas, holding a 9-3 edge over the Razorbacks. When the game is held in Athens, the Dawgs are 3-0 all-time and are 5-0 overall in the series under Richt. Last year when these two teams met in Fayetteville, Ark., Georgia was able to win 52-41 as senior Joe Cox tied the school record with five touchdown passes.

This season the attention will be on both teams’ quarterbacks. Richt said junior quarterback Ryan Mallett will prove to be a test for the Dawgs.

“Mallett just has a pure ability to throw the football. I’ve coached quarterbacks a long time, and it is just pretty to watch him throw. He’s strong and has long distance accuracy.”

Now in his third game, the confidence has risen in Redshirt Freshman quarterback Aaron Murray.

“Murray has handled things good to this point. Our goal was to start him at a certain pace and not put too much pressure on him too early. Overall, he has played well and handled the responsibility of the job pretty good. There was enough adversity in this last game, and now game three will allow him to build even more.”