By Alex Abrams
Special to the Arkansas News Bureau
ATHENS, Ga. — Ryan Mallett didn’t care to discuss it, and Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee didn’t want to acknowledge it, either.
However, Mallett did plenty Saturday to answer any questions that might have been lingering about his ability to complete passes and move the football in a hostile environment.
Beginning with Arkansas’ first offensive series, the junior relied on his strong arm — and a bit of trickery — to throw for 380 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-24 win over Georgia in front of an announced crowd of 92,746 at Sanford Stadium.
Mark Buffalo • Stephens Media
And with his 40-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs with 15 seconds remaining, Mallett made an even stronger case for the Heisman Trophy in front of a national TV audience.
“The reason he came back to school was to prove that he could win these games on the road,” McGee said of Mallett, who completed 21 of 33 passes. “He was poised in pre-game warm-ups, he understood the defenses (and) he saw all the defenses that were coming at him.”
Saturday marked Mallett’s first road win as a starting quarterback, dating back to his one season at Michigan in 2007. He went 3-0 as a starter for the Wolverines, but all three games were played in Ann Arbor.
In his first season running Arkansas’ offense in 2009, Mallett struggled with his accuracy and composure in losses at Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and LSU. He helped erase those ghosts with his best road performance of his career.
“You know, that was last year,” Mallett said when asked about finally playing well on the road. “We’re an older team now, and we made some mistakes in the second half.
“We didn’t move the ball when we should have, but we showed our toughness at the end and showed what we’re capable of.”
Mallett got the ball back after Georgia rallied from a 24-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 24-24 with 3:55 remaining.
That’s when the Razorbacks turned to what Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino refers to as his team’s “bread and butter” plays.
Starting at his own 27 with 47 seconds remaining, Mallett picked up a pair of first downs with back-to-back passes to Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams that covered 33 yards.
Then Mallett, seeing that the Bulldogs were in a Cover 2 defense, threw a quick strike to Childs. The wide receiver side-stepped a Georgia safety and raced 40 yards for the game-winning score with 15 seconds left.
“Ryan’s a big-time player, and I expect him to make big plays in situations when we need him most,” Childs said. “So I wasn’t surprised at all. So that’s just something I expect from him.”
Mallett also showed early on that he could make a convincing play-action fake. On Arkansas’ first offensive series, he faked a handoff and then lobbed a 57-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Chris Gragg.
If Heisman voters didn’t think Mallett was versatile enough to win the award, he booted a pooch punt 43 yards. And as for those questions about his struggles on the road, that’s old news.
“That (last drive) just says how tough he is, mentally and physically tough he is,” Petrino said of Mallett. “He stood in there and competed. He knows defenses real well, and you can’t say enough about how he executed in that two-minute drive.”
