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Collecting all the post-game analysis articles, including those behind paywalls, regarding the UGA game here:

(Gerald Goodridge) No. 5 Georgia 35, No. 10 Texas 10: Three things we learned

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At one point, it looked like the Texas Longhorns were going to make this yet another exciting finish. Anthony Hill intercepted Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, which Texas turned into a scoring drive and closed the game to four points. The Bulldogs responded with a long touchdown drive, aided by Texas miscues, and then stole a possession and put the game out of reach. It was embarrassing and ugly for the Longhorns.

Kirby Smart has Steve Sarkisian’s number

For the third time in three games, the group in red outcoached the group in Burnt Orange. The Texas offense was cooking and keeping them in the game, playing complementary football, closing the gap to 14-10. Two fourth-down conversions turned into a Georgia touchdown, and then Kirby Smart dialed up the first onside kick of his tenure in Athens to steal a possession and put the game away. Texas moved the ball well on a few drives, but penalties and mistakes led to Texas going six consecutive drives without scoring a point.

It wasn’t just the Georgia defense that got the best of Texas; from the opening whistle, Georgia’s offensive game plan took advantage of Texas’s lack of defensive aggression. Once Texas adjusted and started to pressure Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, they used motion and misdirection to confuse the Texas secondary, resulting in two easy touchdowns for the Bulldogs.

Arch Manning needs help

If you’re watching the box score, Arch Manning turned in a relatively pedestrian game, but the box score doesn’t tell the whole story. Manning operated the offense well for the majority of the game, while his receivers did him little favors. Ryan Wingo, who seems to be WR1 on the team, had a back-breaking first-half drop that would have extended a drive, the only drop he was credited with. That drop ended the streak of four consecutive completions that Manning started the game with.

Wingo also missed on a diving catch in the second half that would have put Texas deep in Georgia territory. Instead, DeAndre Moore and Jordan Washington followed his diving catch with a pair of drops that ended a once-promising drive. The Texas ground attack did little to help its quarterback, both by lack of production and lack of opportunity to do so. Texas ran its backs just 10 times in the game for 40 total yards and finished the game with 23 total rushing yards. That’s the lowest total since the 24-7 loss to TCU in 2017, Tom Herman’s first season on the Forty Acres.

The defense needs answers

Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit struggled to get stops early, and when they adjusted, so did Georgia. Texas played soft and allowed Georgia to take advantage of space underneath both in the pass and the running game. When the defense adjusted and put its secondary on more of an island, miscommunications and blown assignments let the Georgia offense spark big plays and put Texas away. Both young contributors and senior leaders struggled with communication and even simple fundamentals to put Texas on its heels and put the game away. The Longhorns need to find some answers as they close out the last two weeks of the season, hoping to salvage what they can of the rest of this season.

Seth Emerson: Bold decisions propel Bulldogs toward Playoff as Horns’ chances sink

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No. 5 Georgia bullied No. 10 Texas again, eliminating the Longhorns from College Football Playoff contention and staying in the race for another SEC title. Gunner Stockton threw four touchdown passes, Kirby Smart coached aggressively in the second half to stub out a potential Texas rally and the Bulldogs beat Texas 35-10 Saturday to improve to 3-0 against the Longhorns since they joined the SEC last year.

The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1) swept Texas last season, winning 30-15 in a regular-season meeting in Austin and then 22-19 in overtime for the SEC championship in Atlanta. Georgia has played in four straight SEC title games and finished its conference schedule still alive to make it five if it can get a little help in the last two weeks.

Stockton threw two touchdowns to Noah Thomas in the first half to put the Bulldogs up 14-3 at halftime. Arch Manning and Texas (7-3, 4-2) found life in the second half and cut the lead to 14-10 when the third-year quarterback found Ryan Wingo with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 5:27 left in the third quarter. Manning finished 27-for-43 for 251 yards with an interception, but after pulling Texas within four, he didn’t touch the ball again until almost midway through the fourth quarter.

After Texas seemingly had the momentum, the Bulldogs converted a fourth-and-short from their own 36 and a fourth-and-5 in Texas territory, and then capped the drive with Stockton’s 30-yard TD pass to London Humphrey to make it 21-10. Smart wasn’t done, calling for an onside kick that Georgia recovered to steal another possession and set up another touchdown pass by Stockton, this time from 6 yards out to Lawson Luckie.

Stockton was 24-for-49 for 229 yards, four touchdowns and an interception and ran for a score to make it 35-10 with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter. Georgia held Texas to 274 yards rushing and sacked Manning three times. The Bulldogs have won six straight heading into their final two games against Charlotte and rival No. 16 Georgia Tech and need an Alabama loss to Auburn in two weeks to get back to the SEC title game. Smart’s team looks like a shoo-in to reach the Playoff even if it can’t get to Atlanta.

Kirby the daring

For a while in his head coaching career, Smart was known for being conservative in his game management, leaning on his defense. But as he’s bought more and more into analytics — which often calls for going for it on fourth down — Smart has taken more chances. And he took a big one in the second half. Then he did it again. And then yet again.

It started when Georgia faced fourth-and-1 from its own 36, late in the third quarter, clinging to a 14-10 lead. Smart not only went for it, but his offensive coordinator Mike Bobo dialed up a risky play: Stockton went under center, faked a handoff then rolled out and hit Chauncey Bowens for a 10-yard gain. Four plays later, Georgia faced fourth-and-5. It lined up quickly for the not-unusual effort to get the defense to jump.

This time it actually worked, and Georgia got another set of downs. A few plays later, Stockton hit a wide-open Humphreys for a 30-yard touchdown. Then Smart went for the jugular: An onside kick, the first of his tenure per Georgia’s communications team. It caught Texas by surprise, with Georgia’s Cash Jones making a clean recovery. Georgia’s offense took the field again, and quickly was driving downfield again.

Longhorns on the brink

The preseason No. 1 team that Texas was anointed for the first time in school history this year now needs a miracle — or several — to make the Playoff. It was a lot of the same problems that have hounded Texas all season. The Longhorns couldn’t run the ball, didn’t do a good enough job protecting Manning and had inconsistent play from their receivers.

On the defensive side, Georgia broke Texas’ defense with a 21-point fourth quarter and picked apart the Longhorns secondary, which was healthier than it has been in weeks with two starting safeties back. Texas still has Arkansas and No. 3 Texas A&M left on the schedule. Maybe beating the Aggies, the SEC’s only remaining unbeaten team in conference play, to go along with victories against No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 14 Vanderbilt, can keep Texas in play for a third straight CFP appearance under coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian fell to 1-7 against top-five teams as Texas coach.

Return of the Georgia defense

After what has been a disappointing, and confounding, season for Georgia on defense, it looks like it’s getting right at just the right time. It was evident from the start. In its seven previous SEC games, Georgia gave up a touchdown on the opening possession all but once, and in that exception Kentucky got into the end zone on the next drive. But Texas was held to a field goal on its opening possession, then went three-and-out the next drive.

And that three-and-out looked like vintage Georgia: Cornerback Demello Jones threw down Ryan Wingo after a short gain on first down, then a blitz by Quintavius Johnson forced Manning to dump off early, and linebacker CJ Allen clobbered the receiver for a 2-yard loss. Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann dialed up blitzes throughout the game, creating pressure in ways Georgia has struggled to do this year. And after Texas ran the ball well on the first drive, the Bulldogs stiffened up.

The question for Georgia’s defense was never talent, but experience. Most of the five-stars and other blue-chips are first -or second-year players. As the defense gets more snaps, they appear to be rounding into form. The form people are used to seeing from a Georgia defense.

Evan Vieth: Texas drops the ball, and likely its CFP hopes, in a gruesome loss to the Georgia Bulldogs

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Fresh off a bye week, with a top-10 win two weeks prior, it felt like the Texas Longhorns were waltzing into Athens, Georgia, with a chance to do something they couldn’t do all year. Beat the Bulldogs. Even with it being a game away from home for Texas, the Longhorns had recently discovered their optimal offensive line set, had seen the best of Arch Manning in the past two weeks and were finally healthy.

Yes, it was Georgia. But if Texas was truly that College Football Playoff team many thought they were, this would be the game to prove it. Instead, the Longhorns played a miscue-filled game, with many of the reasons the Longhorns had two losses entering this game rearing back their ugly heads. By the time the final whistle blew, Texas was down four scores, losing to the Bulldogs 35-10.

Texas saw its two biggest mental weaknesses emerge once again: drops and penalties. Things that made the Ohio State loss painful, and the main catalysts for the loss in Gainesville. In the first half, Texas dropped three passes. All three would’ve been first downs. Two were on third down, and one on the first drive to Ryan Wingo would’ve put Texas inside the Georgia five. Instead, the Longhorns settled for a field goal.

They wouldn’t score again until the third quarter, and that would end up being the only other scoring drive they’d have. Texas was also heavily penalized in that first half, being called for seven penalties that added up to 43 yards lost. That doesn’t paint the whole picture, as plays like a near-60-yard kickoff return from Ryan Niblett were nullified, costing Texas even more hidden yardage. The Bulldogs weren’t penalized once.

It would take until five minutes in the second half for Georgia to receive its first penalty against, a clear pass interference on the goal line on a key third down that brought Texas within the 10. Arch Manning would find Wingo for the touchdown on the next play. Texas was able to limit drops in the second half, but penalties remained costly. On a crucial 4th and 5 near midfield, star edge rusher Colin Simmons jumped offside, clear as day. Georgia would score on a busted coverage three plays later. Simmons’ offside was one of Texas’ nine penalties on the day. Georgia would end with just the one.

That offside would end up being the decider. Had the Bulldogs not been able to convert that 4th down, Texas would’ve gotten the ball back with a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Instead, Georgia scored an easy touchdown and immediately retained the ball on an out-of-nowhere onside kick call. Stunned, the Texas defense trotted back onto the field. Smart had done it again.

At one point, Manning and the offense thought they’d enter the game down four with the chance to take the lead. Instead, 12 minutes of gametime churned, and suddenly they were staring down the entire crowd of Sanford Stadium down 18. It was a lost cause. By the time the Bulldogs had finished their drive, Texas was down three scores with just nine minutes left in the game. The momentum was far and away in Georgia’s favor, and the game was all but over.

Texas moves to 7-3 on the year, and with Oklahoma beating Alabama, the chances of Texas making the College Football Playoff continue to grow slimmer and slimmer. The Longhorns will need some help elsewhere, and two wins in a row, one against top-five Texas A&M. But, playoff or not, it’s clear that this Texas team is not up to the standards placed on them in the preseason. Steve Sarkisian has a Kirby Smart problem, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going away anytime soon. 

(Joe Cook) Instant Reaction: Texas stumbles and falls in the home stretch vs. Georgia

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***The College Football Playoff dream for the Texas Longhorns most likely had the plug pulled in Athens. In order to get into the CFP, Texas could not both drop this game and see programs ranked similarly like Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Michigan, and USC take care of business against ranked opponents. All those teams did their job on Saturday. All except Texas.

***Though the three point total in the first half was frustrating, the final 20:27 after Texas’ first and only touchdown of the game should be far more infuriating for Longhorns’ fans. To win games like this, players and coaches alike must be able to do every small thing needed, including keeping the finest details sharp in order to win. Texas put too many lapses on the field to have so much as a shot at the end, lapses manufactured by both the coaches and the players. Georgia remained the constant it has been throughout the past decade under Kirby Smart. That consistency turned the story of a game that was competitive throughout the first 40 minutes into one that looked like a beatdown, and that’s because the final 20 minutes turned it into a beatdown.

From here, takeaways are in sequential order of the game.

***The Longhorns’ first drive of the game was a successful one but they would have liked to have gotten more out of it. A drop from Ryan Wingo and a penalty assessed to Cole Hutson that may have been Arch Manning’s fault kept Texas out of the end zone but created a successful red zone chance. Georgia responded with an even stronger drive as Mike Bobo attacked a number of Pete Kwiatkowski tendencies and got the Longhorns out of proper alignment. Georgia also didn’t pound the football early, electing, like Texas, to spread things around the field for their first occasion with the football. They turned that into a 14-3 lead early.

***To that point, in the latter portion of the first quarter and the early part of the second period, Bobo was cooking Kwiatkowski. Georgia moved the pocket often and notched 11 throws to just six runs over the course of the first two drives for the Bulldogs (and one of those rushes was a Colin Simmons sack on a broken play). The Longhorn defense was punished for misalignment, and credit is due to Bobo for putting Texas’ defense into situations where his offensive players could take advantage. Georgia scored 14 points on its first two drives. Texas only managed three.

***From the point the Bulldogs went up 14-3, the game balanced out tremendously for the Longhorn defense. Georgia was able to notch only 59 yards on three drives and only picked up 3.93 yards per play. Texas was unable to take advantage due to only notching two three and outs, a four and out, and a promising seven play drive that ended with Manning getting intercepted by KJ Bolden (even though it appeared as if DeAndre Moore was interfered with). The lack of an ability to answer, especially when Georgia got the ball on the other side of halftime, made the first drive’s successes seem so fleeting as the Texas offense was able to get 155 yards of offense on 30 plays, a decent number. But the halftime 14-3 lead was the biggest issue.

***Texas committed seven penalties for 43 yards in the first half, with three of them on special teams and one of them undoing a 59-yard kickoff return by Ryan Niblett. Warren Roberson, who was a penalty magnet on special teams last year, now has eight flags called on him over the last two seasons.

***Manning and Steve Sarkisian did well during the first half, as did Quintrevion Wisner running behind an O-line that was effective enough to manage 36 yards on six carries for No. 5. They were let down on multiple occasions by the Longhorn pass-catchers. Ryan Wingo, DeAndre Moore, and Jordan Washington all did more to bat the ball to the ground than to haul it in on key plays where their gains would have significantly impacted that particular moment of the game.

***During the first half and a couple of times in the second half, Texas deployed a 3-1-7 package that saw a plethora of defensive backs on the field. Jonah Williams was in at deep safety. Xavier Filsaime was robbing. Jelani McDonald and Michael Taaffe were at linebacker. Warren Roberson and Malik Muhammad were at cornerback. Graceson Littleton was at star.

***Anthony Hill made the play that helped Texas break back into the game. His interception was the result of McDonald, Roberson, and Brad Spence playing everything well on the boundary side. Gunnar Stockton was forced to go through his progressions, and he was late enough on the throw for Hill to find the ball on his drop. 

***Fantastic catches from Wingo throughout the ensuing drive, including the touchdown catch on an RPO, made it a 14-10 game with just over 20:00 of gametime left. But it became pretty evident on Georgia’s ensuing drive why Sarkisian spoke throughout the week about Georgia being tough to kill. The Bulldogs put together a 10-play, 73-yard drive where UGA converted several fourth down opportunities. The final blow was a 30-yard pass to London Humphries for a score where Taaffe and Jaylon Guilbeau failed to properly cover a motion and a switch. That put Georgia up 21-10 with 14:20 left in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t even the most frustrating thing to happen to the Longhorns in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

***Seconds before it happened, you could see Kirby Smart leaning over focused on the ensuing kickoff. Then all of a sudden, Peyton Woodring tapped the top of the ball into space left far too vacant by the Longhorns’ kickoff front line. Cash Jones made the play to pick it up, and that presented itself as a moment where Georgia could go for the final blow. They did exactly that with a nine-play, 53-yard drive that made it 28-10 and sealed the game.

***The special teams snafus were multiple for this game. Texas’ special teams have improved since they were consistently poor last season. While there have been tremendous booms, the regularity of the busts has remained under Jeff Banks’ watch. The holding on Roberson, including his repeated usage despite his penalties, is something you are either coaching or allowing. Holding isn’t coached. The preparation for a surprise onside is marginally more forgivable. It is a surprise after all. But if you keep things steady and constant on the front line, there isn’t an opportunity to hand Georgia its first recovered onside since 2013.

***Texas did not do enough to make Gunner Stockton uncomfortable throughout the game. The Longhorns only had two sacks during the contest and it took just four total yards away from the Bulldogs. Texas’ defense had six tackles for loss, but those tackles for loss were not enough to put UGA off schedule and behind the sticks. Stockton was 24-for-29 for 229 yards with four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, and an interception.

***In addition to talking about how Georgia is tough to kill, Sarkisian spoke about how Georgia has been the standard in college football for most of the past decade. Longhorns teams of the past two years have known that in order to reach their loftiest goals, they would have to defeat Georgia. Not being able to get it done against the program in Athens would be indicative of an inability to surge into the true top of the sport. The pecking order would be clear. It still is and now other programs will have the chance to move ahead of the Longhorns in the CFP world and likely leave Texas on the outside looking in to the 12 team playoff.

 

Edited by satyanash
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Danny Davis: Texas' loss to Georgia likely ends Longhorns' 2025 CFP hopes

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ATHENS, Ga. — From No. 1 to possibly done? Texas football fell behind No. 5 Georgia early and collapsed later on in a costly 35-10 loss Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Voted atop the Associated Press and US LBM Coaches preseason polls and ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings this week, Texas dropped to 7-3 on the season with a 4-2 mark in SEC play.

Is the Texas season over? Not technically. With games against Arkansas and Texas A&M left on the schedule, Texas could conceivably still do enough to impress the College Football Playoff committee. Before Saturday's game, SEC commissioner Grey Sankey held court in the Sanford Stadium press box and said he believed that a three-loss team could remain in the playoff picture. Sankey noted that as a three-loss team last year, Alabama "earned that top-12 ranking."

Alabama actually earned the No. 11 ranking on Selection Day last year. The Crimson Tide, however, wasn't seeded in the College Football Playoff bracket. Since Arizona State and Clemson won the Big 12 and ACC championships, those two teams cut in front of Alabama even though they were respectively listed 12th and 16th in the final rankings. A similar scenario could play out this year since the playoff saves spots for the five-best conference champions, which is why No. 15 Miami and No. 24 South Florida made the cut in this past week's projected playoff field while No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 12 BYU were left out.

In other words, Texas will probably need to be ranked in the top-10 when the final rankings are released Dec. 7. This Tuesday, UT will find out how much the Georgia loss will cost them in the rankings after a weekend in which it lost by 25 points while Oklahoma, Miami and No. 13 Utah, No. 16 Georgia Tech, No. 17 USC, No. 18 Michigan and No. 19 Virginia all won (No. 14 Vanderbilt was idle while BYU was also playing a late game against TCU).

Texas scores first but still falls behind early at Sanford Stadium

On Saturday, Georgia (9-1, 7-1) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions while Texas just tallied three points over the first two times it touched the ball. The story of those game-opening drives? How the offenses fared on third down. Texas went 0-for-3 on third down during its first two possessions with the most egregious of its misses being a pass dropped by Ryan Wingo that likely would have given Texas a first down inside the Georgia 10.

Meanwhile, Georgia set up its first touchdown with a third-and-10 conversion and then scored its second touchdown on a third-and-goal try. That 14-3 score held up into the halftime break as Texas struggled through a first-half performance that featured three drives into Georgia territory but three offensive drops and seven penalties.

In the third quarter, an interception by linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and Georgia's first penalty of the night — a pass interference on a third-and-13 play  —  set Texas up for its first touchdown of the evening, a 7-yard catch by Wingo. Any momentum gained by the Longhorns was quickly stunted by a 10-play drive that featured Georgia converting two fourth-down attempts and a Gunner Stockton touchdown pass. Georgia then recovered its first onside kick since 2013 and Stockton later threw his fourth touchdown pass of the evening to lift Georgia to a 28-10 advantage.

Up next: Texas returns home for Arkansas game

Texas will return to Royal-Memorial Stadium for its final two games of the regular season. Next weekend, the Longhorns will host SEC bottom-dweller Arkansas (2-8, 0-6). The Longhorns closed out the 2025 season with a 2-3 showing in its road games. Texas also lost games at Ohio State and Florida, and needed overtime sessions in order to escape its trips to Kentucky and Mississippi State with victories.

Texas has now lost three times to Georgia since it joined the SEC ahead of the 2024 season. Last year, Georgia recorded a 30-15 win over UT in Austin and then beat the Longhorns in the SEC championship game.

David Cobb: No. 5 Bulldogs run away from No. 10 Longhorns in their most complete win of the season

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Georgia continued its recent bullying of Texas in emphatic fashion Saturday night, as the No. 5 Bulldogs crushed the No. 10 Longhorns 35-10 to improve to 3-0 in the series since the programs became SEC foes last year. In the first meeting between the historic powers at Sanford Stadium, Georgia left little room for debate over who was the better team.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter, then used a 21-0 fourth quarter to pull away and leave a mark on the visiting Longhorns. Coming off a bye, Texas struggled offensively, committed costly penalties and was outcoached by Kirby Smart.

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton also outplayed his counterpart, Arch Manning. Stockton accounted for five touchdowns -- four passing and one rushing -- while completing 24 of 29 passes for 229 yards. His third-quarter interception gave Texas a short field, and the Longhorns converted to cut the deficit to 14-10. That's when the Bulldogs began their game-ending flurry. Stockton capped the surge with a 4-yard touchdown run at the 4:43 mark.

Now 9-1 (7-1 SEC), Georgia is all but assured a spot in the College Football Playoff. But it's still unclear whether the Bulldogs will get a chance to defend their SEC title, with Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M all still in the mix. Georgia closes the regular season with Charlotte -- a lowly American Conference opponent -- and rival Georgia Tech. Texas' CFP future is far murkier after the Longhorns (7-3, 4-2) suffered a potentially fatal third loss.

 

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Charles Odum: No. 5 Georgia cruises past No. 10 Texas to continue mastery of Longhorns

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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Gunner Stockton threw four touchdown passes — two to Noah Thomas — and ran for a score to outplay Arch Manning as No. 5 Georgia strengthened its postseason standing by overwhelming No. 10 Texas 35-10 on Saturday night for its sixth straight victory. After Texas trimmed Georgia's lead to 14-10 in the third quarter, Stockton's 30-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys, followed by a successful onside kick, allowed the Bulldogs to put the game away. Stockton's 6-yard scoring pass to Lawson Luckie following the recovery of the kick iced the win. Stockton added a 4-yard scoring run late in the game.

With No. 4 Alabama's 23-21 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma earlier Saturday, Georgia (9-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) could move into position for a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs also boosted their hopes of defending their SEC championship. The Bulldogs claimed a 22-19 overtime win over the Longhorns in last year’s SEC championship game in Atlanta following a win at Texas earlier in the season. Georgia's win in the Longhorns' first visit to Athens gave the Bulldogs three wins in two years in the series. Texas (7-3, 4-2) saw its four-game winning streak end, putting its playoff hopes in jeopardy.

Georgia has rolled since its 22-19 overtime home loss to Alabama on Sept. 27. That loss ended Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak, which was the longest active streak in FBS. Texas linebacker Anthony Hill's interception of Stockton's pass midway through the third quarter gave the Longhorns the ball at the Georgia 36. The Bulldogs' first penalty, a pass interference call against Zion Branch on a third-down play, set up Manning's 7-yard scoring pass to Ryan Wingo. The Longhorns' first touchdown trimmed Georgia's lead to 14-10.

Georgia answered with a 10-play touchdown drive capped by Stockton's 30-yard scoring pass to London Humphreys. The Bulldogs covered a fourth-and-1 play on Stockton's 10-yard pass to Chauncey Bowens and survived another fourth down when Longhorns outside linebacker Colin Simmons was called for an offsides penalty. Georgia coach Kirby Smart kept gambling by calling the onside kick recovered by Cash Jones.

Stockton completed 24 of 29 passes for 229 yards. His interception was only his third of the season. Manning, who said this week he considered signing with Georgia until the end of his recruitment, completed 27 of 43 passes for 251 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The takeaway

Texas: Dropped passes and penalties hurt the Longhorns. Texas drew seven penalties for 43 yards in the first half and nine for 58 yards in the game. Wingo stumbled after his catch on the Longhorns' first snap, and that 1-yard gain set the pace for the half. Wingo had a third-down drop at the end of the 13-play drive to set up a 33-yard field goal by Mason Shipley. The Longhorns ran for only 19 yards.

Georgia: After giving up the field goal on the opening drive by Texas, the Bulldogs' defense gave up no more points in the first half. KJ Bolden had a second-quarter interception, Gabe Harris and Quintavius Johnson sacked Manning and CJ Allen had a big third-down stop of Jack Endries for a loss of 2 yards for the defensive highlights. Allen left the game with a leg injury in the first half.

Up next

Texas: Hosts Arkansas on Saturday.

Georgia: Hosts Charlotte on Saturday.

 

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(Ian Boyd) Five quick thoughts: Out-Smarted again

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After another head-to-head win, the Georgia Bulldogs remain a standard the Texas Longhorns cannot meet. This was perhaps the biggest beatdown yet, with a final score of 35-10, and ended up being an absolute caning between the hedges. While Steve Sarkisian was obviously eager to finally get a win over Kirby Smart, it appears Georgia was also well prepared and motivated. Mike Bobo had an outstanding play script and Georgia’s defense was able to absorb the Texas play script, with some help from several drops, before eventually dropping the hammer in the fourth quarter.

Given the mantra from Texas all week that this game was going to be the Longhorn Super Bowl and played hard for four quarters, Georgia’s 21-0 scoreboard edge in the final quarter was a bad look. While Texas is still mathematically alive for the playoff race, this game was clearly established as a measuring stick for the program and the Longhorns didn’t measure up.

Quick thought no. 1: Gunned down

Gunner Stockton was sharp on script early and sharp late well beyond the opening salvo. He hit a few fourth downs on second half drives and didn’t miss much throughout the game. He finished the day 24-29 for 229 yards for 7.9 ypa with four touchdowns and a single terrific pick by Anthony Hill. Stockton also added six carries for 29 yards and a touchdown. The threat of zone-read keeper also opened up tight end Lawson Luckie for an easy touchdown late in the game.

Texas had extraordinary difficulty with Georgia’s rollout game, routinely losing the tight ends and receivers in the flat routes when Stockton would roll to the backside of a play. Stockton’s ability to routinely hit those flat routes and some open hitch routes outside against off coverage stacked a lot of positive yards. Zachariah Branch was actually contained for most of the game, catching six balls on seven targets for 41 yards at just 5.9 ypt, but Noah Thomas caught two red zone touchdowns and Stockton spread the ball around to the Dawg tight ends and backs.

The Georgia run game didn’t do a ton of damage, with Nate Frazier the leading rusher at 72 yards on 16 carries, but the Dawgs were able to control the game between the positive gains and play-action passing. Texas was also disappointingly susceptible to motions and shifts which resulted in multiple red zone coverage busts that lead to Bulldog touchdowns. The Longhorn offense didn’t really show up as expected on the road but Texas lost this game on defense as much as anywhere else by proving unable to withstand Bobo and Stockton’s focus.

Quick thought no. 2: Make it take it in the 4th

Georgia dominated the game in the fourth quarter in part due to a very smart risk on the part of the Dawg staff. First came a 10-play, 73-yard touchdown drive which included a pair of fourth down conversions by Georgia made it 21-10. Texas was certainly in a hole after that drive, which ended with a busted coverage when Michael Taaffe chased the slot outside on a switch release while Jaylon Guilbeau also stayed outside, leaving London Humphreys to run free up the seam for a 30-yard touchdown. The Longhorns were reeling at that point and badly needed a touchdown drive by the offense to get back into the game before the fourth quarter ticked away.

Smart calculated the benefit of going for an onside kick was greater than the risk of a shorter field for the Texas counter-attack. The Longhorns were completely taken by surprise and offered virtually zero resistance to Georgia’s recovery. Already worn down by the previous drive and being on the field for so long, Texas got kicked back down the field by Georgia for another touchdown off another coverage bust and it was 28-10. Georgia would pad the lead with yet another scoring drive but the game was already over.

Quick thought no. 3: Texas’ gameplan made sense

I’m sure there are dozens of nitpicks to make about Texas’ offensive gameplan, but the main issues in this game didn’t really relate to the strategy. Texas played spread sets and used clever and often newer designs to try and get the ball to speed in space early and often in this game. Tempo and RPOs helped Tre Wisner and the run game put up 33 rushing yards on the opening drive, only for the team to finish with just 23 yards on the day. Multiple screens appeared to put Ryan Wingo in position to make plays only for stumbles and drops to bring him down. Overall the Longhorn wideout was targeted 13 times and caught nine balls for 62 yards at 4.8 ypc with a touchdown catch. Those are disastrous numbers for a top wideout in a big game.

DeAndre Moore and Emmett Mosley (fifth of that name) both fared better but not well enough to do real damage. Georgia absorbed Texas’ perimeter bombardment over the course of the game and counted on stuffing the run and keeping the ball in front to prevent any serious harm arising from the Longhorn offensive attack. 

Without the ability to protect Manning for shots down the field, Texas has to be very consistent throwing for gains and pick up explosives after the catch. When open perimeter throws to Wingo couldn’t generate explosive gains, that was basically all she wrote for Texas in trying to keep up on the scoreboard. The onside kick and 35:09 to 24:51 time of possession disparity didn’t help either, but Texas ran 60 plays to Georgia’s 64. Poor success rates on early downs and a bad third down conversion rate while Manning ran from pressure were the real culprit, as they’ve been all year.

Quick thought no. 4: The Georgia problem

Strangely enough, Texas has largely matched Georgia in building strong defenses with deep and imposing rotations on the line of scrimmage and physical defensive backs keeping opponents in front. The Georgia defense had a better day today but it was partly due to drawing an easier matchup. But this Longhorn offense routinely gets exposed against Smart’s defense. Georgia’s offense is what it looks like when your team is actually built around the line of scrimmage. The Dawgs are much more physical and cohesive across the offensive line and Smart also maintains a pipeline of true dual-threat tight ends and doesn’t have boom/bust cycles at that critical position. Every year they plug in new stars and don’t tolerate anything less. The offensive line is also always well stocked with big, physical athletes who play tough and cohesive ball in the trenches.

Consequently, Georgia is always in position to control the line of scrimmage and to move versatile players around in order to create matchups and play to their opponent’s weaknesses. The Longhorns are built more around the skill positions and quarterback, but they had a down year at the skill positions and timed it with really bad year at offensive line. The Longhorns can be skill and quarterback driven as an offense and beat Smart’s Georgia, but the offensive identity has to be clear. They can’t be a team that thinks they’re one thing heading into the season and has to become something else because the roster and the vision don’t match.

Heading into this game, Georgia was no. 1 in offensive FEI and 26th in defense FEI on Smart’s own side of the ball. The Longhorns were 10th on defense but 37th on offense, Sark’s own side of the ball. While this wasn’t a great game by the Texas defense, the major difference between these two programs is occurring in the direct matchup between Sark’s offense against Smart’s defense. When Kirby needed a great game from his defense he got it while the inverse was not true.

Quick thought no. 5: Found wanting

It’s possible a 9-3 Texas could be in decent standing for the playoffs. That record still has to be earned by the Longhorns picking themselves up to beat Arkansas and then upsetting currently undefeated Texas A&M at home to finish the year. It’s possible those things will happen, even the Aggie game is an easier matchup than trying to beat Georgia on the road, but the Longhorns have already been weighed and found wanting. Texas got dropped to start the year against Ohio State, the defensive and offensive lines  was bullied on the road against Florida, and the team has routinely struggled to put away weaker teams throughout the season. The effort against Georgia was the second instance this season of the Longhorns getting extra time to prepare for an opponent and getting taken apart. If you can’t play with Georgia, Florida or Ohio State when you have extra time to prepare for each, what’s even the point of being in the playoffs? Does anyone believe the Longhorns participating in the tournament could end with Texas crowned as National Champions?

 

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Posted
  • Texas didn't play Arizona St well last year either.  Or Ohio State.  Sark isn't  a maximizer.  I read this today on Surly.  He is Armenian James Franklin.
Posted

Sark had been pretty good about keeping scores close in losses, even when we got dominated. That came crashing down last night. Maybe that’s what was needed to keep from fooling themselves about the fundamental deficiencies this team has. 

Posted

Evan Vieth: The five plays that decided the fate of Texas' season

Quote

Despite what the final 35–10 score in favor of the Georgia Bulldogs says about this game, the Texas Longhorns were in a tight one in Athens heading into the fourth quarter. Both offenses had had trouble moving the ball on good opposing defenses, and the Bulldogs looked like the far better team in the first half. But Texas’ defense settled down, and its offense stepped up, making it a four-point game with five and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Four minutes later, the Bulldogs faced a difficult situation. They had just converted on 4th and 1 three plays prior, but it was 4th and 5 on Texas’ 49. Some analytics might have told them to punt the ball away with how the defense was playing, but Kirby Smart’s offense strutted back onto the field for the most important play of the game.

Remember, this was a 14–10 ball game. Had Georgia simply thrown an incompletion, Texas would have had the ball in its own territory with a chance to take the lead, or at least make it a one-point game. Instead, the worst five-play sequence of the Texas season occurred. Colin Simmons, arguably Texas’ best player, got jumpy on 4th and 5, finding himself offside as the ball was snapped, gifting the Bulldogs the first down. “Somebody was calling my name, I heard the clap, jumped,” Simmons said. “I wasn’t even looking at the player in front of me.”

On the next play, Georgia RB Nate Frazier ran for seven. One play later, fellow RB Chauncey Bowens found himself in the flat, running past the first-down marker to the 30-yard line. Then, disaster struck. The captain of the defense, Michael Taaffe, let a Bulldog run right by him. Taaffe claimed there was “a little miscommunication” between the defensive backs, but the result was still the same. Georgia waltzed into the end zone, and suddenly what felt like a tide-turning defensive stand ended in a two-score deficit. It was ironic. Two of the main stars of the Texas defense were the ones making the most unfortunate of mistakes at the biggest times. The ones you’d expect to make the big play to win the game, ended up doing the exact oppostie.

But not all was lost. Texas still had nine minutes to score a touchdown, hold Georgia to a field goal or better, and then score again to win the game. Not the perfect situation, but doable. But Smart had one more trick up his sleeve. The legendary coach called for the most aggressive play in the book: the onside kick. Play number five. Of course, the Longhorns didn’t recover this fumble. You wouldn’t be reading this article in dismay if they did. That fifth play gave Georgia the ball back immediately, bringing a tired and battered Texas defense back onto the field. “On the onside kick, you know, we didn’t break on the ball,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “That’s on us as coaches. We’ve got to do a better job of getting our players understanding situational football. We’ll attack the ball, and we have an opportunity to get great field position in that situation, and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

By the time the Bulldogs found the end zone again at the end of the drive, Texas was down 18 and there were under nine minutes left on the clock. Texas had been without the ball for 12 minutes. This season doesn’t come down to five total plays. Last year, you could maybe make that argument given how the Ohio State game ended, but clearly, there were more problems with tonight’s Longhorn team than just this five-play sequence. It embodied everything that Texas has struggled with this season and against the Bulldogs: unforced errors and miscues on the defense, Smart outcoaching Sarkisian, the Bulldogs exiting yet another game having won all three phases, but most notably the special teams.

But it’s hard to look past how much this five-play sequence changed tonight’s game. At one point, Texas fans had hope of something new—a chance to come back and win against that elite opponent. A stepping stone, and a chance to make the playoff despite what had occurred in Gainesville not that long ago. Instead, Texas shot itself in the foot, and Smart once again got the best of Sarkisian. It’s going to be a long trip back to Austin for this Texas team.

 

Posted

Sark was out coached.  Nothing more, nothing less.  We had 9 penalties while Georgia only had 1.  The same crew that called all the penalties in the SEC championship game last year showed up in Athens and continued the string of holding calls on Texas. We have to be better out of the bye weeks.  This was pathetic. 

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Harvdog said:

Sark was out coached.  Nothing more, nothing less.  We had 9 penalties while Georgia only had 1.  The same crew that called all the penalties in the SEC championship game last year showed up in Athens and continued the string of holding calls on Texas. We have to be better out of the bye weeks.  This was pathetic. 

It truly was pathetic and embarrassing. Those that pour their emotions, allegiance, loyalty, time and money into supporting Texas football certainly have not received any remotely acceptable benefit this year, because Sark has failed to do the top notch job he is handsomely paid to do, on multiple levels.

Either swallow your ego, put your head down, and start making necessary changes or get the fuck out of town and far away from our university.

Edited by Minute Bull
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