AUSTIN, Texas — In one breathless, over-the-top, much-anticipated night Texas went from the No. 1 team in the country to the No. 1 soap opera in the country. Too much reaction mode, too soon? Not in this expanded playoff era when you can still win even by losing.
First of all, it’s Texas, where every twitch of Bevo’s tail is news. Second of all, it’s Texas at No. 1. The Horns took 16 years to get back to that lofty ranking. When the Horns wake up Sunday morning they will have lasted all of 14 days at the top.
The run at the top is coming to an end because of a flat effort that changed a program on the brink of being the best in the SEC in its rookie year into a beaten, humbled and, in the end, cushioned shell of its former self.
As bad as Saturday’s 30-15 loss to No. 5 Georgia was, the impact was lessened because in the big picture it may have only affected the Horns’ playoff seeding. Eight weeks into the season, Texas is still firmly in the running for the SEC and CFP championships.
For large parts of Saturday night, though, it didn’t look close to either.
The Longhorns’ performance vs. Georgia might not mean a thing come early December in Atlanta. It might also mean Texas isn’t quite ready for prime time, which this year would be disappointing on a level of Matthew McConaughey becoming an Oklahoma fan. Texas showed hints of an SEC takeover last season by getting to the CFP in its final year in the Big 12. Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian had already been masterfully planning the transition for three years.
Through seven weeks the Horns had shown they were candidates for leapfrogging the SEC and becoming the best team in the country. Saturday injected doubt.
“The beauty of this format is losing a game like this doesn’t kill you,” Sarkisian said of the CFP almost cheerily. “Everything we want is still in front of us.”
True, Texas will likely be taken care of the expanded bracket it keeps grinding. Before the game, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey joked, “Eight would be the high” for SEC teams getting in.
But this was arguably the biggest game here in at least 60 years. Not since 1964 when No. 1 Texas lost to No. 8 Arkansas 14-13 has the hype been this big here. That Arkansas team included Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson. Barry Switzer was a Hogs’ assistant.
This weekend in Austin featured an F1 race, concerts by Sting and Eminem at the track, an MLS soccer game and a stinker by the centerpiece of the whole thing draped in burnt orange.
A school-record crowd of 105,215 left disappointed. They may have company this season. The year had been trending toward parity before Saturday. The SEC looks like everyone in the league is going to finish with at least two losses.
For the first time since 2007 there will be no SEC undefeated teams at the end of October.
That year, everyone in the country lost at least two games. LSU was the best of many mediocre contenders that year, memorably giving up 50 points in a home loss to Arkansas. On Sunday, Oregon became the fourth team to No. 1 in the first eight weeks of this season.
Texas suffered its worst home loss (15 points) since 2014. Its first-half performance cannot be underplayed. Georgia had to drive all of 89 yards for its five scoring drives because of Texas miscues. Bulldogs linebacker Jalon Walker had a nice month in the first half – seven tackles, three sacks, two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery.
His main target, Quinn Ewers, was so uneven, Texas’ quarterback was replaced in the second quarter by prodigy Arch Manning. That alone raised eyebrows before it was revealed after the game Ewers didn’t know he was coming back in the second half until halftime.
“It’s definitely a weird position to be in,” said Ewers, who was pulled for a poor performance for the first time in his career.
Let the speculation begin. Sark did reinforce that Ewers is still the starter, but that statement was not one you would have predicted coming out of this game.
“I felt Quinn was a little uneasy,” Sarkisian said. “I just felt like giving him a chance to step back, regroup [was best] …
“I’m sure he wasn’t the happiest guy with me that he got taken out for a couple of series. I’m sure he wanted to stay in there and work his way through it.”
Texas was supposed to make its case vs. Georgia. To reinforce it had actually played somebody. Yeah, yeah – it beat Michigan and Oklahoma, but Michigan and Oklahoma aren’t what they once were.
Instead Texas’ heralded offensive line got manhandled at times. Georgia’s defense – which had given up 85 points in the last three games, tied for the most since 2016 – regained its swagger at the right time.
It showed. The Bulldogs recovered three fumbles. Texas quarterbacks were sacked seven times. Georgia had 10 tackles for loss.
“It was very disappointing to come out there and not be able to execute our plan as we wanted to,” Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. said.
Not even the SEC crew got out unscathed. Late in the third quarter Texas’ Jahdae Barron was flagged for defensive pass interference after returning a Carson Beck interception 36 yards to the Georgia 9. The replay appeared to show the play could have gone one of three ways – offensive pass interference by Georgia’s Arian Smith,defensive pass interference or a no-call allowing Barron’s interception to stand.
Eventually Barron’s pick stood after the official who made the interference call “erred” according to the SEC office. The SEC added that the assessment of the penalty “was not properly executed.”
That’s one way to put it. The officials glanced up at the replay board after fans littered the north end zone with bottles and cans. Sark came off the bench to plead for them to stop. Aside from Barron’s interception, it might have been Texas’ best defensive effort of the night. The return set up Texas for its second touchdown.
The suspense ended there.
The Horns and Ewers may have been a house of (Hudson) cards in the first half, but it reflected a season that is getting weirder by the minute. The entire sport of college football seems to be regressing toward the mean.
Already Georgia has lost as No. 1 to Alabama, which lost to Vanderbilt, which suddenly has the same record as the Tide (5-2).
And guess who visits Vandy next week? Yup, the Horns.
“It’s one game. That’s my concern,” Sark concluded Saturday night. “What are we going to do going forward?”
“Hopefully,” he said of Georgia, “we’ll get another crack at them.”
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