The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs have been the gold standard of college football over the past few years. They won back-to-back national championships and have been favored in every game since Sept. 4, 2021.
This week No. 1 Texas is a five-point favorite, according to BetMGM. As the Bulldogs come to Austin for one of the busiest weekends in the city’s history, head coach Steve Sarkisian has his team blocking out all the noise and focusing on one thing: winning.
Sarkisian attributes his team’s success to the culture he has built over the past three years.
“I do believe culture beats talent, and I said that before when maybe we weren’t the most talented team, but culture beats talent,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve also said that culture and talent combined is really dangerous, and I think that’s why we’ve become a dangerous team, is because we’ve built a culture, but we’ve assembled talent along the way, and that’s a credit to our players and belief in the culture and the character that they came in with to pour into that culture and make it better than it even was before.”
The team’s culture has allowed it to become a complete team, something that is needed if it wants to compete for championships. Through six games, Texas has dominated on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, Texas is first overall in both points per game allowed with 6.3 and yards per game allowed with just under 230 yards. The Longhorns have given up just three touchdowns all season.
Offensively, the Longhorns are ranked seventh overall in yards per game, averaging just over 495 yards. They also rank seventh in total points per game, averaging over 43.
All of these statistics demonstrate Texas’ success on the field and while they may just look like numbers, Texas makes these numbers look dominant in games. Sarkisian has said that while these stats are impressive, it’s more important that his team plays well on the field to prepare to play for championships.
“I loved the fact that offensively, we didn’t play our best football (last) Saturday, especially early in the first quarter,” Sarkisian said. “When we talked about being a versatile and complete team, I think that that showed itself Saturday.”
In the 34-3 win over Oklahoma, Texas failed to score in the first quarter and gave up a field goal to the Sooners, trailing for the first time this season. But that didn’t last long, as Texas would score 34 straight points and hold Oklahoma scoreless for the rest of the game, showcasing just how dominant this team is.
Though junior quarterback Quinn Ewers says he isn’t changing anything going into this week’s game, he knows that Georgia will be the biggest challenge his team has faced this year.
“We try to go into every week without anything changing in our mentality of how we approach games,” Ewers said. “But, we’re human beings. We understand that there’s two really good teams coming together, and I know our team is excited for the opportunity.”
Ewers is no stranger to playing in big games, but as Sarkisian said, winning this game is not the end goal for this team, winning national championships is.
