The Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs have unfinished business.
Taking its only loss of the regular season at the hands of Georgia, not to mention inside Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium, Texas has the chance to redeem itself and be crowned the champion of the Southeastern Conference on Saturday.
Throughout the year, head coach Steve Sarkisian has harped on the fact that
every matchup has been prepared for and executed like a conference championship game. But now the time has come for Texas to leave everything on the line against a team that has repeatedly inked its name as one of the best in the nation, and Sarkisian knows why.
“Georgia and Kirby (Smart have been the standard in college football now for about the last eight years,” Sarkisian said during Monday’s media availability. “They’ve been in the SEC championship game seven of the last eight years, they’ve been to the last four consecutively. I touched on this with the team this morning, and this is a real compliment, this isn’t to intimidate our players, but Georgia’s got the heart of a champion, and you see it time and time again.”
In their first meeting during Week eight in October, Georgia became the first opponent of the season to shut out Texas at halftime. The Bulldogs dominated defensively, holding the Longhorns to just 29 rushing yards, the lowest amount they’ve recorded, and sacking Texas junior starting quarterback Quinn Ewers and redshirt freshman Arch Manning seven times for a loss of nearly 60 yards.
But losing the turnover battle was the nail in the coffin for the Longhorns, as Georgia forced and recovered three fumbles and an interception for a gain of 17 points. Despite Georgia’s senior starting quarterback Carson Beck granting Texas three interceptions, the offense would turn them around for only seven points.
Heading into this weekend, the team has improved dramatically in that department, and it will undoubtedly be a key to a potential Longhorns victory. Sarkisian pointed out that of the last nine turnovers forced, six of them have been capitalized on by scoring a touchdown or ending the game in their possession.
Texas currently harbors the No. 1 defense and No. 4 in average offensive yards per game in the SEC, outplaying Georgia by .7 yards per contest. The Longhorns defense will have its chance to get its hands on the ball, especially if Beck extends his total of 12 interceptions. A protected Texas offense would make sure that Georgia has officially met its match.
“Our best ball is still yet to come,” junior defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “Just looking at our film, knowing what we’ve corrected, these little details that we’ve fine tuned, it makes you confident going into the week knowing that we already look better.”
Sports betting website DraftKings has the Longhorns at a 1.5-point favorite as they entered the latest AP Poll at No. 2 after a 17-7 victory over Texas A&M on the road to clinch their spot in the championship. Meanwhile, Georgia sits at No. 5 following an eight-overtime 44-42 win over Georgia Tech, a game where the Bulldogs rallied a fourth-quarter surge after trailing the entire night.
Texas has the chance to claim an SEC title in its debut season, but Georgia is equally as hungry to add a 15th conference title to its dynasty.