Big stats don't soothe Allen's pain

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen (10) is helped off of the field after being tackled in first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Georgia in Little Rock, Ark., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen set career highs for completions, attempts and yards Saturday, but it was another SEC low for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas had to abandon its run-oriented offense in the first half and call on Allen to pass too many times as Georgia beat the Razorbacks 45-32 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Allen, a junior who completed 28 of 45 passes for 292 yards and 3 touchdowns, said none of the personal bests meant anything as Arkansas lost its 16th consecutive SEC game.

"We kind of had to throw it late in the game to come back from a large deficit," Allen said. "It's still a loss."

The Razorbacks drove 75 yards on 13 plays for a touchdown on their first possession -- including Allen's 17-yard pass to Cody Hollister -- to take a 6-0 lead.

"It started off so well, then we kind of fell apart with turnovers and penalties that were killing us," Allen said.

Georgia led 38-6 at halftime, including a 54-yard fumble return for a touchdown by safety Dominick Sanders after Allen was sacked by linebacker Jordan Jenkins and lost the ball.

Allen was sacked three times -- all in the first half -- and threw two interceptions.

"You can't turn the ball over like we did and expect to win," Allen said. "You can't do a lot of things we were doing out there today and expect to win."

Allen said Georgia's defense didn't pull a lot of surprises.

"They do a lot of things well," he said. "They had our number on a lot of things. They're just a very talented and athletic defense."

Allen came off the field in the first half after being sacked but returned on the next series and played the rest of the offensive snaps.

"I'm fine," he said. "I just landed on the ball, so I really couldn't breath. Just a couple nicks and bruises, that's it, so I'm good to go."

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema praised Allen's toughness.

"He's banged up, but I think the biggest pain for him is his heart," Bielema said. "He cares a lot about this football team. When you're the starting quarterback, you probably take way too much criticism and way too much reward when it comes your way, but I expect him to respond really, really well."

Arkansas looked to be in position to regain the lead when DeAndre Coley recovered an onside kick attempt by the Bulldogs at their 45 after Georgia took a 7-6 lead. But Allen lost 23 yards the next two plays on sacks by safety Damian Swann and linebacker Leonard Floyd

"When you get good field position like that to start a drive, you kind of want to take a shot," Allen said. "We dialed one up. We just didn't get it."

The Razorbacks scored four touchdowns in the second half.

"I'm proud of the fact there was no quit in the team at all," Allen said. "We did a good job of moving down the field and scoring. But we put ourselves in such a big bind in the first half to come back from that, and we had to try to climb out of it and it was too deep."

Sports on 10/19/2014