From a statistical standpoint, Georgia did not get quite the production running the football against Arkansas that Bulldog fans have grown accustomed to.

Zamir White overcame a slow start to rush 13 times for 71 yards (5.5 average) and a touchdown. Otherwise, however, the final rushing numbers, 121 yards, failed to live up to expectations.

James Cook carried the football seven times but only managed 26 yards, while Kenny McIntosh gained six yards on three attempts.

During Monday’s Zoom press conference with reporters, head coach Kirby Smart was asked what he thought the problem might be.

“It’s a combination of both [the running backs and blocking]. I thought there were a couple things. The first thing, to have a great run, you have to have good box counts, you have to get a hat on a hat, you have to make people miss,” Smart said. “I think all of our backs have the ability to make people miss, but they have to do it at a higher level. We have to block much better on the second level on terms of our receivers, cut off blocking, and turning a couple 10 to 12-yard runs into bigger runs.”

Smart felt the backs had their chances.

“There were some missed opportunities there, and we have to move up front a little better. At the end of the day, that's what it takes to be able to run the ball,” he said. “Look across our league—you show me a team that is running the ball really, really well and efficiently; it’s hard to do in our league. You have to be able to throw and catch the ball, and you have to be able to score points.”

The Bulldogs know they'll have to do a better job Saturday when No. 8 Auburn visits Sanford Stadium for this year’s home-opener.

“There were some holes, some things there that backs didn’t necessarily miss. Sometimes the snap was bad. And if you have a bad snap and it gets you off direction, you can't have that. It takes a cumulative effect of everybody doing their job, and if one guy is off—one receiver doesn’t cut off a safety, and he turns what would be a 20-yard gain into a five-yard gain,” Smart said. “If the snap is off, you go back and look: there were a couple times the snap was just off key, and it brings the quarterback offline, then it brings the running back offline.”

Smart said the Bulldogs escaped from Saturday’s game relatively unscathed as far as any injuries are concerned.

“As far as the injuries go, nobody's substantially injured. There are some bumps and bruises, really the same ones we had going into the game,” Smart said. “Jermaine (Johnson) dinged his shoulder; I think he had to go out of the game for little bit. But he came back in and played, and we think he’ll be fine. Kearis (Jackson) got dinged up on the hit there when he got hit pretty good, but he stayed in for a couple more plays and came back,” Smart said. “We don’t have anybody we think is out.”

…Smart was also asked about the status of senior outside linebacker Walter Grant—who did not travel with the team to Fayetteville—and his status for future games.

“In terms of Walter, when we feel like he can contribute and help us out, he’ll be able to. He has to be able to help us out in all the phases of the game to be able to play,” Smart said.

Smart was asked whether or not Saturday’s 27-point win did or did not feel like such a big win.

The Bulldogs, as you know, struggled offensively in the first half before outscoring the Razorbacks 32-3 in the final two quarters.

“I don’t know. I don't really get into that; I just look at the performance. The expectation of the fan base, the expectation of you guys (media), is not what I’m trying to please,” Smart said. “I'm trying to please these young men, and I want them to be at their best. I want to do the best job for them as a staff. I want to put them in the best chance to be successful.”

People’s perceptions, he said, mean little to him

“I’m really not into the perception or the outside world, what they think, because it probably doesn’t matter at the end of the day. I’m worried about getting our team better,” he said. “It’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems. And that was 100 percent evident watching that tape. The defense was not as good as it seemed, and the offense was not as bad as it seemed. We have to do a good job at doing better. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Center Trey Hill suffered a pair of bad snaps Saturday, but those are not the reasons Smart said the junior could start seeing more time at left and right guard.

"That has been going on all camp,” Smart said. “That's not something we haven’t done.”

Warren Ericson spelled Hill at center during Saturday’s game against Arkansas.

“We think Trey gives us a lot of flexibility at guard. We think Warren (Ericson) gives us flexibility at center, and the ability to play guard, which you saw in the bowl game,” Smart said. “He provides Trey some conditioning relief when you’re in a COVID year, and you’re not quite in as good of a shape as you normally are.”

The added strength, he said, could come in handy.

“Trey plays a really good guard. In a lot of ways, Trey can play guard and create more power than Warren can, in terms of strength and body weight,” Smart said. “So he’s able to relieve Ben (Cleveland) and (Justin) Shaffer and give them a blow and not have a drop off at center. We’ll continue to work that route and play the guys that give us the best chance to win.”

“Stetson Bennett is annoyingly good at golf.” —Jake Camarda.

“Good question. The biggest thing is, we had some mental busts they did not expose us on. Things that, if you're sitting there and watching, you're going, ‘Okay we didn’t do that right. We didn’t handle that well.’ Someone with better players will be able to expose us—mistakes that were made, communication errors. One side is playing one thing and the other side is playing another—we [were] not on the same page. Typically, those are early-in-the-season mistakes, and they're one play away from [it] being a big play—and we saw the explosive play that happened.” —Smart on the play on the defense.

…Smart did not bite when asked if he was against the annual tilt with Auburn being moved up to the second game of the year.

“My support or 'disgruntle' of it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. I don't really care when we play who we play; it's who we play that I care about,” Smart said “We have Auburn this week. I'm excited because I think they have a really good football team. Two months ago, three months ago, we didn’t even know if we were going to have this game, so I'm certainly excited that we are, and that our kids get the opportunity to play in an electric environment.“

… Camarda was tabbed by the SEC office as the league Special Teams Player of the Week.

The junior punted seven times for an average of 49.9 yards (second nationally) and for a 47.0 net (fourth nationally) during the Bulldogs’ 37-10 win at Arkansas. He dropped five of those balls at the 11-yard line or better and had a long of 63 yards. He finished with four punts of 50 yards or longer, and forced three fair catches during his performance.

…CBS has elected to use a six-day option for selection of games on Saturday, October 10. Tennessee at Georgia and Florida at Texas A&M are the two games being held for selection. The game not selected by CBS will be televised by ESPN at Noon ET.