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Three keys to beating Arkansas

South Carolina Gamecocks v Georgia Bulldogs Photo by Steven Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Few of us had Georgia and Arkansas as an early-October top-ten matchup a few months ago, but college football is gloriously crazy and unpredictable, giving us tomorrow’s Noon kickoff.

Here’s three keys to a Georgia win.

Win The Start

Sadly, nobody thought about going to the SEC offices and walking around it seven times in order to force the kickoff time for a top-ten matchup to be moved from an absurd time of Noon.

Like it or not, the game’s at Noon. That means that the team that’s mentally ready to play gets a big leg up. For starters, the crowd needs to be a factor. Fans need to arrive early and be loud and causing an early Arkansas timeout or delay of game would be huge as far as momentum.

Georgia cannot afford to come out flat. It needs to avoid early three-and-outs as well as pre-snap penalties.

Wreck The Hogs O-Line

Simply put, Georgia needs to have a game similar to Clemson, when its defensive line straight up dominated things. Disrupting what Arkansas wants to do by clogging running lines and prevent passing plays from getting outside the pocket will go a long way in gaining an upper-hand.

The offensive line needs to dominate

This is a huge game for Georgia offensive line coach Matt Luke. Here’s why. Georgia is two years into a new philosophy under Luke, who replaced Pittman after he departed Athens. That is to recruit and design blocking schemes around linemen that weren’t quite as big.

For Luke and his linemen, this is the chance to show that they and the new offensive line regime can take over games. Against an Arkansas team that prides itself on effort and physicality, this could be the biggest test of the season for this group, which to be successful will need to give JT Daniels plenty of time to throw and clear out running lines for Georgia’s backs.

Go Dawgs!