Bitter-sweet Victories

Well, UGA managed to pull off a 23-20 win against Arkansas, despite losing QB DJ Shockley early in the 2nd quarter. I was unable to keep track of the game since I was flying somewhere over China at the time in route to my current destination in Eurasia. I read some articles and looked at the stats and frankly, I'm a little discouraged- especially heading into the Florida game.
I read about how the defense and the special teams stepped up and the offense did just enough to preserve a win. Allowing a RB (albeit a good one) to run for 190 yards including a 70 yard TD and a back up to also pick up significant yards isn't a great showing on defense. I know we were dealing with some key injuries on D, but it looks like the defense gave up a lot and just made big plays at key moments.
More of a concern is the lack of a running game. Coming into this season, the line and the RBs were the strengths of the Offense and DJ and the WRs were the questionmarks. DJ has stepped up remarkably and the WRs have been inconsistent, but good enough. It seems to me that if you lose your QB, and you have a great line and a good stable of RBs, you run it down Arkansas' throat- making you the team with 200+ yards rushing, not the one with barely 200 yards of total offense.
This is where I need your help, if you saw the game, post your thoughts or email me cause I want to know. That withstanding, I'm going to speculate...
Arkansas probably stacked the line- "8 men in the box"- and forced UGA to throw. SO WHAT?! Arkansas came into the game at the bottom of both the SEC and nationally in Defense, so even if they stacked the line, there should have been opportunities. Remember the Tennessee game, Brown and the UGA line flattened a stacked Vol defense (with a great front 7) by running 10+ plays in a row, accounting for 70+ yards and a TD. Either UGA has a good running game or it doesn't, it's that simple. From the numbers, it looked like Richt stuck with the passing game after DJ was lost. I love Coach Richt; I think he is a great coach and a better man, but I do question his dedication to weaker alternatives in light of obviously strengths. I can only hope that Richt was preparing 'lil Joe T and the Dogs for gametime passing action without DJ against Florida and Auburn, and that the running game will step up big next week- crushing Florida and giving Joe T some cushion.
It's funny a guy here said, "but Florida's not that good this year." Florida is always dangerous. Leak is still a good QB. A win is still a win, and a loss keeps you out of the Rose Bowl. Do you think those annoying Florida fans are going to say, "we only beat you because DJ wasn't playing." Heck no!