Georgia Makes Its Point Quickly

The roar began shortly before kickoff, a caterwaul from Georgia fans who had waited two decades to see their football team win another Southeastern Conference championship.

The Bulldogs weren’t about to let them wait a minute longer. Or catch their breath.

A blocked punt. A nifty run. A string of field goals. The fourth-ranked Bulldogs scored on their first five possessions and never looked back, burying Arkansas, 30-3, before a crowd of 74,835 at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night.

“It seemed like a home game for us,” Georgia kicker Billy Bennett said. “I kind of felt bad for Arkansas because the crowd was almost all in red and black.”

The victory ended 20 years of frustration for a program that once knew greatness. It did not matter that the players learned before kickoff that Miami had defeated Virginia Tech, thereby ending any outside chance they had to sneak into the Fiesta Bowl national championship game.

Twenty years and that roar was all the incentive they needed. Even Coach Mark Richt, who arrived from Florida State only two years ago, mused: “It’s been a long time and a lot of disappointment.”

Arkansas, meanwhile, was hoping to put a fairy tale ending on a regular season that saw the Razorbacks win six games in a row to reach the conference championship. The payoff was a little less than they had expected.

“You play all year to get into games like this,” linebacker Tony Bua said. “It just makes me sick to my stomach to come out flat and not get anything going.”

Things turned sour for Arkansas (9-4) on the sixth play of the game when Georgia’s Decory Bryant sneaked in from the right end and blocked a punt. Bulldog running back Musa Smith scored from two yards out. Three minutes later he was back in the end zone, finishing a long drive with a 17-yard touchdown run.

Bennett supplied the rest of the early scoring, making three field goals to give his team a 23-0 lead at halftime.

“This game just did not start out right for us,” Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said.

It didn’t end so well either. The Razorbacks managed only 139 yards in total offense as quarterback Matt Jones was sacked four times and generally harrassed all evening.

Smith carried most of the load for Georgia (12-1), running 19 times for 106 yards. Quarterback David Greene had 237 yards passing and a 20-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin Watson in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs now have a date in the Sugar Bowl -- and a possible reunion for Richt and Florida State -- but the players and their fans, who were still screaming on their way out of the stadium, wanted time to savor this victory.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Smith said.