Arkansas hasn’t won an SEC game in over two years, but the Hogs have caught head coach Mark Richt’s attention.

“You can play great and be a really good team and not always win,” Richt said at his Tuesday press conference. “I’d put them in the category of an excellent football team. They’re very well coached, very tough, very physical.”

The Razorbacks come into this game on the heels of yet another disappointing loss. They fell to Alabama at home by just one point, their third SEC loss of the season. In all three games, Arkansas was either leading, tied or down just one point at halftime, but the failure to close out games has plagued the Hogs so far.

Despite the on-field letdowns, Arkansas has made waves around the SEC, particularly with its dominant physical rushing attack. Consequently, the Razorbacks are one of the nation’s top teams and lead the SEC in time of possession, a stat often overlooked in the scope of a season, but vitally important to the game plan for Arkansas.

“They’re number one in the league in time of possession,” Richt said. “Sometimes time of possession is not a real important stat with a lot of people going speed and up-tempo and all that kind of thing.”

“But with the way they run the football and really impose their will on defenses that they’re playing against, it’s kind of a big part of what they do.”

Perhaps the most prevalent example of Arkansas’ ability to keep the football away from opposing offenses was in the third game of the season against Texas Tech. Not only did Arkansas limit the Red Raiders’ offense to just 28 points, but Tech only had three drives all second half.

RELATED: Preview: Georgia vs. Arkansas

Arkansas controlled the football for more than two-thirds of the game and ended up winning by 21 points on the road.

Richt and the Bulldogs understand a similar challenge presents them this week. If the ‘Dawgs are unable to stop Arkansas’ physical run game, the defense will not only wear down, but Georgia probably won’t have to many chances on offense to match the Razorbacks high-powered offense.

Richt hopes that UGA’s familarity with stopping its own physical running backs throughout the offseason will play a huge factor in limiting the likes of Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams.

“We at least went through camp running the football,” Richt said. “We’re pretty similar in a lot of ways as far as how we go about our business, so I don’t think our style is going to shock them or their style is going to shock us. It’s just going to be a matter of two very physical teams wanting to see who’s tougher. That’s probably going to be a big part of it.”

So far this season, Georgia has been the SEC’s second-best team at stopping the run, allowing just over 100 yards per game on the ground. With the exception of last week’s game against Missouri, however, the ‘Dawgs have allowed at least 100 yards and one rushing touchdown in their three other SEC contests this season.

RELATED: Early opponent analysis: Arkansas

Stopping the run would force Arkansas’ hand and make them rely on Brandon Allen’s arm. While Allen isn’t a terrible quarterback by any means, he’s certainly not a guy that’ll beat teams often. The more Arkansas runs the ball, the more they control time of possession. And that combination would spell trouble for Georgia.

“We know they’re going to run the ball,” junior defensive end Sterling Bailey said. “They’re number one in our conference in rushing offense. It’s going to be a good test for us, a good challenge, to see how far we have come and how much we can improve.”