ATHENS, Ga. — Ryan Mallett would look one way, then — BOOM! — he would throw another.
When he was finished duping Georgia, No. 12 Arkansas had a victory on the road and plenty of momentum heading into a showdown with defending national champion Alabama.
Mallett threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns, including a 40-yard scoring pass to Greg Childs with 15 seconds remaining that gave the Razorbacks a 31-24 victory after they blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter Saturday.
“This is a really surreal feeling,” Mallett said. “This is something I’ve never experienced before. This has got to be one of the greatest moments I’ve felt since I’ve played the game of football.”
Indeed, the Razorbacks (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) won on the road for just the second time in nine tries under coach Bobby Petrino, whose team had heartbreaking losses at Florida and LSU last season.
Next up: top-ranked Alabama in Fayetteville, Ark.
“Wow, what a game,” said Petrino, who returned to the state for the first time since quitting the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons with three games left in the 2007 season. “We stuttered in the fourth quarter and put our defense in a tough situation, but we got a good win. Beating Georgia was one of our goals before the season started.”
The Bulldogs (1-2, 0-2 SEC) rallied from a 24-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game on Washaun Ealey’s 3-yard touchdown run with 3:55 remaining and seemed to have all the momentum.
Georgia got the ball back with a chance to win it, but Jake Bequette halted the drive at midfield with a ferocious sack of Aaron Murray, ripping off his helmet in the process. A poor punt by Drew Butler gave Arkansas the ball back at its own 28 with 47 seconds left.
“To fight the way they did after getting behind, I’m impressed with them and I’m proud of them,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “If you make a mistake here and there, I can live with that. That’s better than a team that doesn’t have the heart to fight back.”
