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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Saturday’s game featured plenty of in-game shakeups on the offensive line.

Owen Condon started the game at right tackle. But early in the second quarter, he was replaced by redshirt freshman Warren McClendon, who played the rest of the way.

He wasn't the only player who was part of an in-game adjustment.

Warren Ericson played two different spots, first coming in for Justin Shaffer at left guard, then replacing Trey Hill at center early in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t really move a lot of guys around in the first half, to be honest with you. We didn't play but six guys. So there was not a lot going on there,” Smart said. “We had six guys playing. That was more a rotation we've had for a while, and felt good about. Warren, Trey, and Ben in there. I think we've got to play more together offensively; that's the biggest thing. We've got to find some guys who are willing to fight for some extra yards and knock people off the ball to help us.

“There were some young guys out there, and we’ll review how they played. But I’m not ready to say they played good or bad right now.”

For those wondering, Georgia brought 10 offensive linemen to Saturday’s game. Along with Ericson, Hill, McClendon, Shaffer, and Condon, starting left tackle Jamaree Salyer, starting right guard Ben Cleveland, Netori Johnson, Xavier Truss, and Sedrick Van Pran each made the trip.

Until Stetson Bennett finally got the offense on track, Georgia’s best offensive player may have been punter Jake Camarda.

Camarda averaged 49.4 yards on eight kicks, but more importantly, he placed his first four inside the 20-yard line.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore kicker Jack Podlesney enjoyed a solid day. Podlesny made his first career field goal, a 38-yarder, to end the half and trim the deficit to 7-5. He later added a second 38-yard field goal to end the scoring for the Bulldogs.

Earlier in the week, Smart said his biggest fears in not having spring practice was mistakes in the kicking game—and penalties.

While the kicking game performed wonderfully, penalties were a major issue for the Bulldogs. It's an area Smart said must be addressed.

“Yeah, it starts on the penalties. It starts on guys busting assignments, and it starts on missing signals and not doing what they’re supposed to do,” said Smart, who blamed much of the team’s slow start on the early flags.

Georgia was flagged 12 times for 108 yards in the game, with eight of those penalties occurring in the first half. The Bulldogs didn't have 12 penalties in a game all of last year.

“That’s (the slow start) 100 percent what I attribute it to. So, when you turn the ball over, which we did when we had a good drive; when you hold people, and you line up in the backfield—you're not going to have a lot of success. That's just not going to happen. Nobody's going to give you plays on second and 15, and second and 20. It's just not going to happen. You're not going to be efficient. You've got to execute. You’ve got to play clean; we didn't play clean today.”

… Travon Walker—all 280-pounds of him—took part on the kickoff coverage team again.

...Tyrique Stevenson received the start at Star.

… Richard LeCounte’s had two interceptions in the game. He had two during Georgia’s last game as well, a win in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor.

…In Georgia's 14 games last year, only twice did the Bulldogs commit more than eight penalties in a game. Today at Arkansas, they committed eight for 73 yards in the first quarter.

…Nakobe Dean led all tacklers with seven stops.

….Georgia also blocked a punt as tailback Zamir White got it with 4:31 left in the 3rd quarter, the first block of his career. That gave Georgia the ball at the Arkansas 24. It was the first by a Bulldog since Eric Stokes against Missouri in 2018, and he returned that one for a touchdown. Today, Georgia turned the block into a touchdown, a seven-yard pass from Bennett to Ryan FitzPatrick, the first of his career and a 21-10 advantage.

…Junior Eric Stokes’ 30-yard interception return for a touchdown to make it 27-10 was big for two other reasons. Not only was it the first by a Bulldog since current staffer Juwan Taylor had a 1-yard interception return for a score in 2018 at South Carolina, but it was also the first career interception for Stokes.

… Georgia seniors Richard LeCounte, Malik Herring, and junior Jamaree Salyer served as captains. Only LeCounte walked out for the coin toss, as teams are limited to one captain for the toss this season as part of a COVID-19 rule change to limit the amount of personnel. Georgia won the toss and elected to defer until the second half.

… Georgia wore red pants and white jerseys today as part of the 40th anniversary of the 1980 national champions. This was their uniform combination in the season-opening road win over Tennessee.

… Approximately two hours before kickoff, in a show of unity, Georgia and Arkansas student-athletes, wearing black SEC t-shirts that featured the slogan “Together, It Just Means More,” locked arms on their respective sideline and walked out to midfield. The Directors of Player Development for both teams, Georgia’s Jonas Jennings (UGA ‘97-00) and Arkansas’ Fernando Velasco (UGA ‘03-04, 06-07), spoke briefly.

Four Bulldogs on offense, quarterback D’Wan Mathis, right tackle Owen Condon, tight end Darnell Washington, and wide receiver Jermaine Burton, made their first career starts, along with linebacker Nakobe Dean on defense. William Mote (snapper) made his first start on special teams. Washington and Burton are true freshmen. The longest active starting streak on offense belongs to center Trey Hill, now with 19, while Richard LeCounte leads the defense with 19 starts in a row.

…“I don’t know. It probably wouldn't have mattered what happened after we didn't get the interception. It would tell me a lot more about how it would have ended. But those guys played hard. They work hard, they practice hard, they've got a lot of experience, and we're going to have to use them as we build the rest of our team up and as we grow as a team. We talk about complementary football all the time. It doesn't matter when the turnover happens. First drive second half, you’ve gotta go out and stop them. I love those guys and the way they compete. They've got so much fire. They just love playing the game. I didn’t watch it as closely as I have in the past, trying to work through some of the offensive stuff, but I thought they played really hard.” – Smart on the defensive performance.

… "I thought we played hard and had to go out there a lot. I felt like we played a lot of snaps in the first half. We lost contain on the touchdown pass; ran a stunt where we tried to get some penetration and get him flushed. So we lost contain and then a guy got behind us. I wouldn't call it a busted coverage as much as it was a good route against a poor coverage. And give Arkansas credit. They ran a scissors route and did a good job getting a guy open. But they were resilient, man. They fought, got put in a lot of tough situations, and thank goodness, we have a lot of experience on that side of the ball. The best thing they did was, they never pointed any fingers, never blamed anybody—just kept working." – Smart on Arkansas’ touchdown pass.

…“No, the atmosphere was great. The crowd noise made it seem like it was a normal game. I think as a competitor and a football player and a coach, there's no concern for how many people are in the stands. Once they pumped in the noise it did not feel any different. As a matter of fact, I thought it got pretty loud on some third downs between what fans they had and also the crowd noise they pumped in. So that had no outcome on our inability to execute. That had no ability on that. We just have to do a better job.” – Smart on the environment.

… “Well, we talked before the game. His kids believe, and I know, trying to start the program at Georgia, it starts with that fight and competitiveness. I respect the way his team played and competed right down to the wire. I love that he was trying to fight and compete at the end to score. Called timeouts. I've got a lot of respect for that. Kids need that opportunity. We're only guaranteed 10 games, and those are not guaranteed in the pandemic we're in. You'd better enjoy it and go play, and they competed throughout the game.” – Smart on Sam Pittman’s first game at Arkansas.