𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐄𝐂

Abhay Pancharathi

The script was in. The Longhorns would capture the SEC in their inaugural year and earn a first-round bye in the College Football Playoffs. Of course, Georgia's offense would be unable to move the ball in the first half. Of course, Texas would be up at half. Of course, Carson Beck would be ruled out of the game. Of course, backup quarterback Gunnar Stockton would throw a horrible interception that opened the door wide open for a go-ahead score by Texas. And of course, Texas QB Quinn Ewers would pick up a 4th and 2 to keep the game alive. Except, that's not what happened. Texas was given every opportunity to win this game, and through a series of unfortunate mishaps gave this game away.

While Texas was able to move the ball in the game, a litany of costly mistakes held them to 6 points in the first half. Ewers and Texas were driving the ball on their first before an Isaiah Bond bobble led to an interception. After a Georgia 3 and out, Texas got the ball all the way to the Georgia 20-yard line before offensive pass interference, an incompletion, and a backward catch led to a 4th and 12 where they kicked a field goal. Rinse and repeat next drive, Georgia 3 and out leading to a Texas first down at the Georgia 20-yard line before a sack and backward catch led to yet another field goal. After Georgia's offense finally showed some signs of life, the wheels fell off the wagon. After yet another stalled drive in Georgia territory, kicker Bert Auburn sailed a kick from 42, keeping Georgia in striking range. And thus, on 4 successful first-half drives, Texas had just 6(!) points at halftime.

Even after their offensive miscues, Texas was up 3 against a backup quarterback. Except, Georgia came out of halftime looking rejuvenated, behind Gunnar Stockton's 10-play touchdown drive to put Georgia up by 4. Texas was again unable to get anything going on offense, but the defense stepped up getting the ball back with excellent field position after a 30-yard return by Silas Bolden, who'd also been Ewers' number 1 target this game. After a first down, Texas lined up for a 51-yard field goal to cut the lead to one which... sailed left. Bert Auburn, last year's Big-12 kicker of the year, had missed 2 field goals in the biggest game of his life. Then Trevor Etienne's huge run led to another scoring drive by Georgia's backup quarterback. At this point, it was do-or-die for Texas and they were doing more than dying. A 25-yard catch turned into a 7-yard rush followed by a 41-yard catch and run touchdown to tie the game at 13. Finally, Texas had life. All they needed was a stop against sophomore Gunnar Stockton.

They nearly got it too. After forcing a 4th and 5 early in the 4th quarter, Texas lined up to field the inevitable punt. Deep in their territory, most coaches would punt and hope Georgia can get a stop. There's no way Georgia would go for this, right? However, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is not like most coaches. In the biggest play call of the game, a perfectly executed pitch to Arian Smith led to yet another, clock-draining drive to put Georgia up by 3. And then, Quinn Ewers fell apart. Perhaps it was nerves, perhaps it was the 46 pass attempts, but on a drive that Ewers needed to keep the game alive, he threw a ball straight to Daylen Everette for his second interception of the day. Inexplicably, most of Texas' offensive game plan appeared to be targeting Everette, an odd strategy pre-game, and even odder once it became Everette was holding his own in coverage.

Then the inevitable happened. Georgia's backup quarterback threw a horrible pick deep in Texas territory to kick the door wide open. And this time, Texas had no intention of letting this opportunity go. They calmly drove down the field, in Georgia's 25 with time to spare. It had been fun, the spunky backup of Georgia leading them to go blow-for-blow with the number 1 team in the country, but this is as far as it goes. Texas proves its ranking and gets the 1 seed in the inaugural 12-team playoff. Even after getting stopped, Texas will surely take this game in overtime. Bert Auburn lined up for a 32-yarder and drilled it; straight through the middle of the uprights.

Texas even started overtime hot, picking up a first down and being primed to score the go-ahead touchdown. But then, again, Texas QB Quinn Ewers was unable to drive them any further. Georgia continued their trend of bending, but not quite breaking, and held Texas to a field goal. Then Gunnar Stockton happened. After picking up 2 yards on 1st and 10 from the 16, Stockton called his own number and dove forward for 8 yards to the Texas 4, losing his helmet in the process. Straight out of a movie, Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck came back for one final play, a handoff straight up the middle to end Texas' hopes of winning the SEC in their first year.

Kirby Smart coached a masterclass of a game, thoroughly outdueling his counterpart, Steve Sarkisian. Sark seemed determined to get Texas' run game going early. Unfortunately, he attempted a lot of runs inside, straight into projected top-10 picks Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker because his own top-10 pick, Offensive Tackle, Kelvin Banks, was ruled out just before the game. This meant that any type of run outside was doomed from the beginning, as shown by their run game averaging a measly 2.7 yards per carry. Thus the load fell on quarterback Quinn Ewers to carry the offense. After starting hot, Ewers slowed down considerably after Smart sent blitzes almost every play, trusting his D-line to hold up against the run. When rushed, Ewers has a propensity to become wildly inconsistent and Georgia capitalized on this with a late-game interception. More than Ewers play, however, Texas gashed themselves with penalties. Every time it appeared that Texas had momentum, a back-breaking penalty would knock them just outside of scoring range.

If Texas wants to make noise in this year's playoffs, Ewers and Sarkisian will have to be better than in the Georgia game. There is a point to be made that Texas' only tests this year were Georgia twice and Texas A&M once. In all three of those games, the offense looked terrible; they were unable to move the ball and relied on the defense to hand them field position. That type of play will not work against better teams, and unless changes come fast, it might be time for a certain highly touted backup quarterback to come in.