AUSTIN, TX – Texas has come a long way since Steve Sarkisian took over ahead of the 2021 season. Georgia showed the Longhorns how much further they need to go in a 30-15 win at DKR Stadium. 

Texas (6-1, 2-1) and Georgia (6-1, 4-1) diverged after the 2019 Sugar Bowl meeting when Bevo hooked Uga and the Longhorns reached the pinnacle of the Tom Herman era. The Longhorns struggled through four hapless seasons before Sarkisian brought the Horns out of the dark ages in 2023. Texas is 46-23 since the Sugar Bowl win over the Dawgs. Georgia is now 68-7. That includes two national championships. 

The two converged for the first time since that Sugar Bowl in a highly publicized SEC affair destined to determine the conference favorite. Georgia entered a five-point underdog. It left as the Top Dawgs of the SEC. 

The Texas offense was out of sync the entire game as Kirby Smart got the best of Sark time and time again, especially early in the game. Quinn Ewers began the contest 4 of 4 before going 1 for 7 over the rest of the first half, throwing one interception and losing one fumble on a sack. Texas ended up turning the ball over four times in the game, leading to 17 Georgia points. 

Down 20-0 in the first half and looking for a “spark” as Sarkisian explained to the ESPN crew as he ran into the halftime locker room, the Longhorns turned to its next savior – Arch Manning. That spark quickly faded as Manning struggled for the same reason Ewers did – the Texas offensive line was getting whooped by the Georgia defensive line. Manning also fumbled on a sack and the Longhorns went back to Ewers to start the third quarter. 

“My feeling was that Quinn was uneasy and it gave him a chance to step back and regroup,” Sarkisian said after the game. “I felt like it was effective because Quinn came out and performed better in the second half. Quinn is our starter.” 

Offensive line was supposed to be a yesterday problem. Texas recruited five stars like starting left tackle Kelvin Banks and right guard DJ Campbell. It developed holdovers such as starting center Jake Majors and left guard Hayden Conner. And the staff found gems with upside like right tackle Cam Williams. 

Kyle Flood is considered one of the best offensive line coaches in America and the Longhorns were in contention for the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the best offensive line unit in college football. Sark arrived on the Forty Acres knowing he needed to recruit “big humans” to compete with SEC teams. But those big humans played small against the Bulldogs. 

Texas allowed a total of six sacks over the first six games of the season, all wins. The Horns allowed seven sacks in the loss to Georgia. The Bulldogs registered 10 tackles for loss and held Texas to 29 yards rushing on 27 attempts. Take away the sacks and the Longhorns still only managed 4.4 yards a carry with 21 of the 88 rushing yards coming on a Manning scramble in the second quarter. Tre Wisner had 52 yards on 15 carries. Jayden Blue only touched the ball as a receiver. 

The poor offensive line play also impacted the passing game. The Longhorns rarely had time to develop routes down the field, electing instead for the quick passing game to help protect the quarterback. It didn’t work. Blue and Wisner combined for 12 of Texas’s 28 catches. Tight ends Gunnar Helm and Juan Davis combined for eight catches. That means 20 of the 28 receptions for Texas were by tight ends or running backs. 

The good news for the Longhorns is that the team didn’t quit despite exiting the halftime break trailing 23-0. Ewers led a touchdown drive and converted the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 23-8 in the third quarter. 

Jahdae Barron’s second interception of the game resulted in a pass interference call that was overturned after Texas fans littered the field with water bottles. Texas scored off the turnover to cut the deficit to 23-15 with 2:12 in third quarter.  Georgia responded with its only scoring drive over 35 yards in the game, marching 89 yards on 11 plays to push the lead back to 15 points and out of Texas’s grasp. 

“We didn’t play our best football in the first half, but we were still competitive,” Sarkisian said. “Hopefully, we get another crack at them. That’s a good football team. Credit to Kirby and their staff and their players being ready to go in the first half.” 

The expanded playoff means that this game doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things if the Longhorns don’t let one loss become two when they travel to Vanderbilt next week. One loss won’t eliminate an SEC or Big Ten team in the new world. A 10-2 record likely gets any of the Power Two programs into the dance. Texas should be favored in each of the remaining five games on the regular season schedule. Trips to Arkansas and Texas A&M will be tricky, but an 11-1 record is doable. 

“It was one game,” Sarkisian said when asked about his concern level moving forward. “What are we going to do moving forward? We can sit here and throw a pity party, but I don’t know what that’s going to do for us. How do we refocus the organization and get back on the horse and ride again? That’s what we’ll do.”