Improving Georgia rushing attack was at its best against Arkansas

As trends go, Kirby Smart has to be encouraged by this one.

His unbeaten Georgia Bulldogs have increased their rushing yards in each of the season’s first five football games — 121 yards against Clemson, 163 against UAB, 184 against South Carolina, 239 against Vanderbilt and 273 against Arkansas this past weekend.

Running back Zamir White rushed for two touchdowns and recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to lead No. 2 Georgia to a convincing 37-0 victory over No. 8 Arkansas last Saturday in Athens.

White finished with 68 yards on 16 carries, James Cook rushed for 87 yards on 12 carries, Kenny McIntosh rushed 10 times for 57 yards and Kendall Milton added 48 yards on 12 attempts. The Bulldogs rushed 57 times — the highest during Smart’s tenure as head coach — as quarterback Stetson Bennett seldom threw the ball, finishing 7-for-11 passing for 72 yards.

With Bennett, filling in for injured starter JT Daniels who was out with a strained lat muscle, the Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0 SEC) stuck to their punishing ground game against the Razorbacks (4-1, 1-1). Whether it is Daniels or Bennett starting this Saturday at Auburn, the signal-caller will be backed up by a capable ground game.

“Well, it’s called scheme,” Smart said of the running game’s growing success. “I mean, it’s not a reinvigorated run game as much as it is you take what they give you. And we felt like it was important to play the game patient, but you’re aggressive. And I would have definitely thought there might have been 53 runs in this game, 57 runs, whatever there were because that was the kind of game plan that we needed to approach it with. And you know that it might be different next week. The best teams I’ve ever been around can take on the personality of what they need to take on.

“I’m really proud of the offensive line. I’m proud of the offensive coaching staff. We did an incredible job game-planning against what is a very good defense, in my opinion, a very good defense. And they did a really good job of game-planning for that. So it had nothing to do with Stetson Bennett, the quarterback, it had nothing to do with a reinvigorated running game, it had to do with what we thought it took to win.”

Arkansas quarterback K.J. Jefferson was held to 8-for-13 passing for 65 yards and no Razorback rushed for more than AJ Green’s 28 yards. Jefferson and backup quarterback Malik Hornsby were constantly under pressure, a major reason why the Razorbacks were outgained 345-162 and mustered just 10 first downs.

Georgia seized control on its opening possession. White’s 3-yard run capped a nine-play, 75-yard drive to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 10:46 left in the first quarter, marking the first time Arkansas surrendered points in the first quarter this season.

Georgia doubled its lead on its next possession when Kendall Milton’s 1-yard run capped a 10-play, 56-yard drive with 4:36 left in the first quarter.

Georgia’s special teams made their presence felt after Arkansas failed to get a first down on its third straight series. With the Razorbacks punting from their end zone, Dan Jackson burst through for a block, with White falling on the loose ball for a 21-0 lead with 2:17 left in the first quarter.

Georgia pushed the lead to 24-0 on Jack Podlesny’s 46-yard field goal midway through the second quarter.

Podlesny made a 30-yard field goal early in the third quarter before White’s 15-yard touchdown run less than three minutes into the fourth quarter extended the advantage to 34-0.

“We knew we were going to have to (run it well) with the defense they run,” Bennett said. “They drop eight on every play … They are just robbing with your eyes, and it is hard to throw the ball. We knew the offensive line knew, the running backs knew, the wide receivers knew, the tight ends knew, that their job this week was to run the ball, and that is what we did.”