Why Texas football failed to meet the moment in its first big SEC test vs Georgia

Royal-Memorial Stadium pulsed on Saturday night, filled to the brim with the ingredients that have elevated the SEC to the pinnacle of college football.

Texas football's top-five clash against Georgia got the full build-up treatment, with College GameDay on site. Texas set an attendance record, with 105,215 fans at the kind of marquee home game the Longhorns joined the SEC for. The referees helped to inject some SEC-branded chaos into the cauldron, negating a Jahdae Barron interception with a pass interference flag before changing their minds and overturning the call. In between, UT fans tossed trash on the field to illustrate their displeasure and show that, indeed, It Just Means More.

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All these elements blended to generate a moment Texas (6-1, 2-1) wasn't ready to meet. The Longhorns got a dud performance from quarterback Quinn Ewers and managed just seven points off three Georgia turnovers. That created the ideal environment for another SEC fixture: Georgia's annually fearsome defensive line. And that group buried the Longhorns in an ugly defeat.

"It's Georgia," Texas center Jake Majors said. "The pinnacle of defense. And, clearly, as a unit, we weren't prepared enough, and I take full responsibility for not getting my guys ready, but we just have a lot of respect for them and the way they work. Truth be told, they made us better today."

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Treated to an early double-digit lead, Georgia's defensive front didn't just impact the game. From a Texas perspective, the Bulldogs totally wrecked it.

They pummeled a Longhorns offensive line that had allowed six sacks in six games. By the time Georgia finished handing Texas the 30-15 defeat , it had sacked Texas quarterbacks three times, forcing three turnovers via strip sacks.

"I think the game, the way that it went, allowed elite pass rushers to pass rush," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. "When you're playing against really good people, you wanna have balance because you have to try to neutralize guys ... that are real pass rushers like that. When you don't and you're throwing it just to try to get back into the game and you're going fast just to preserve time on the clock, guys are going to get good rushes."

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Texas has seen elite SEC pass rushes before under Sarkisian's purview. Alabama's, which included first-rounder Dallas Turner, went without a sack against Texas last season. In 2022, a Crimson Tide unit including both Turner and fellow first-round talent Will Anderson Jr. came away with three sacks against the Longhorns.

Against this Bulldogs onslaught, though, Texas' offensive line that features two projected first-round picks wilted.

"They're pretty good. They have a pretty good defensive line," UT left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. said. "If you wanna talk about an execution standpoint, we just gotta fix the little things like technique issues. ... You just gotta watch the film and be hard on yourself, be real with yourself."

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Texas tight end Gunnar Helm said the Longhorns had difficulty dealing with some of Georgia's pre-snap movements. Majors didn't fully agree, though he did think those looks contributed to the Longhorns' penalties up front.

"It's all about your composure," Majors said.

Whatever the diagnosis, Texas lacked the tools to cope with Georgia's pass-rushing duo of Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams, who combined for five sacks. That's what the SEC throws at you: elite athletes who can dictate terms if not properly managed.

Conference matchups against Mississippi State and Oklahoma didn't test the Longhorns like this. The first real SEC exam yielded an ugly grade.

Saturday's game

No. 6 Texas (6-1, 2-1) at No. 25 Vanderbilt (5-2, 2-1), 3:15 p.m., SEC Network, 1300, 98.1, 105.3 (Spanish)

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Why Texas football failed to meet the moment in its first big SEC test vs Georgia