AUSTIN, Texas – Texas and everyone else are finding that Georgia is still the top dog in the Southeastern Conference.
Coach Kirby Smart’s 100th victory in his nine seasons with the Bulldogs, a dominating defensive performance at No. 1 Texas, provided a stark reminder about his team that started the season at the top of the Associated Press college football poll.
“Look, we were able to win this game because of what we had done before this,” Smart said after their 30-15 win over the Longhorns. “Like, going to Kentucky and playing, and going to Alabama and playing. We didn’t flinch. You don’t flinch when you’ve been in these battles.”
That was something Texas found out the hard way in one of the most-anticipated home games in school history.
Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) moved up three spots to No. 2 in the newest AP poll Sunday, the highest of nine ranked SEC teams. Texas (6-1, 2-1) is fifth after slipping four spots, while No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 LSU are also in the top 10. Even without any undefeated teams, the SEC has four more Top 25 teams than any other conference.
The Bulldogs are going into an open date with a three-game winning streak since that 41-34 loss at Alabama on Sept. 28, when they fell behind 28-0 in the first half before recovering to take the lead in the closing minutes. Their first regular-season loss since 2020 came after a lethargic 13-12 win at Kentucky.
Texas averaged more than 495 total yards and 43 points a game in the first half of its league debut. The Longhorns trailed 23-0 and had only 38 total yards at halftime. They finished with 259 yards and four turnovers against the Bulldogs, including fumbles from quarterbacks Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. The Horns converted only 2 of 15 third downs and didn’t get anything out of the two interceptions Carson Beck threw in the first quarter.
“I’ve played a lot of good people during my time here. I mean, they’re definitely up there in regards to defense coordinators, head coaches, the defensive-minded,” said Longhorns senior center Jake Majors, who has started 48 consecutive games. “They know how to scheme some stuff up. And as a unit, we just need to watch this film and just swallow the pill of, you know, wanting those plays back.”
Georgia’s three remaining SEC games come on consecutive Saturdays to open November, starting against Florida before playing at No. 18 Ole Miss and then hosting the seventh-ranked Volunteers. The Bulldogs finish the regular season with home games against UMass and Georgia Tech.
Texas now goes to No. 25 Vanderbilt, which will be playing its first SEC home game since a 40-35 upset of Alabama that knocked the Crimson Tide out of the No. 1 spot a week after their win over Georgia. For now, the Longhorns are firmly in position for a spot in the expanded 12-team playoff, and a could still make the SEC championship game.
“You know the beauty of this format? Losing a game like this doesn’t kill you. Everything we want is still in front of us,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “The challenge for us is to be able to regroup and get ourselves back up off the mat and prepare for a Vanderbilt team next week that’s going to be hungry for us coming to town and get our momentum back going in the right direction and finish out the second phase of the season, try to get a W and kind of work ourselves back in the direction of where we want to go.”
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
