- Steve Sarkisian: ‘The fourth quarter was, for lack of better terms, a disaster.’ Pretty much.
- Texas not officially eliminated from College Football Playoff hunt, but bid absurbed a gut punch from Georgia.
- Texas A&M has resolve. Texas has three losses.
ATHENS, GA – And so it’s come to this for Texas, that senior leader Michael Taaffe is complimenting rival Texas A&M’s resolve after the Aggies’ comeback victory against South Carolina and declaring his own team must look in the mirror and take stock of itself after another humbling loss, this one to Georgia.
“Clearly, A&M showed what type of team they were,” Taaffe said, unprompted, of an Aggies team that rallied to overcome a 27-point halftime deficit against South Carolina.
Hours later against Georgia, the Longhorns reminded us who they are, too. They’re a group that doesn’t play well on the road, a team that hasn’t played up to its payroll or the hype.
And so it’s come to this, that even if Texas beats Arkansas and the Aggies these next two weeks, it still wouldn’t be guaranteed a playoff bid.
Texas went into the fourth quarter against No. 5 Georgia trailing by one score. By the end of the quarter, the final score of 35-10 looked like a rout.
“The fourth quarter was, for lack of better terms, a disaster,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We got beat 21-0 in the fourth quarter.”
You can say that again.
“It was a disaster,” Texas defensive lineman Colin Simmons said. “We didn’t finish.”
Georgia converted two fourth downs en route to a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Then, it recovered an onside kick and scored again. Now down by three scores, Texas went three-and-out. Georgia scored again.
By the end of Georgia’s three-score flurry, the Bulldogs had snapped 16 fourth-quarter plays for 123 yards. Texas had the ball at that point in the quarter for three plays that produced negative-4 yards.
That’s how a close game spirals into a blowout.
When the fourth quarter mercifully ended, Georgia fans danced in the stands as their band played peppy victory tunes. The Longhorns sang “The Eyes of Texas,” and it sounded like such a sad ballad.
The eyes of the nation were upon Texas this season. The Longhorns could not get away from the hype or expectations, and by Sunday morn’ after Texas’ 10th game, the Longhorns had three losses.
And so it’s come to this.
“They kicked our butts in all three phases,” Taaffe said. “We messed up a lot of stuff.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart compared his team’s offense to “a big anaconda” that just keeps squeezing until eventually the prey succumbs.
Gunner Stockton is the head of the snake. The Georgia quarterback completed 24-of-29 passes with four touchdown tosses. He’s not the first quarterback to pick apart this Texas defense.
“I give credit to him, for sure, but we made it pretty easy (on him),” Taaffe said.
And so it’s come to this, that by mid-November, a team billed as a national championship frontrunner in August has been eliminated from the SEC Championship hunt, and now Sarkisian’s lauding Georgia as still “the standard of college football,’ and the undefeated team in Texas is located in College Station, and there’s another team in Lubbock that probably would squeeze the breath out of the Longhorns.
“I’m frustrated and disappointed we didn’t play better,” Texas quarterback Arch Manning said. “We just didn’t play well.”
And it’s come to this that Manning could have used the same words to describe Texas’ losses to Ohio State and Florida or even its road wins against Kentucky and Mississippi State.
Fortunately for Texas, its last two games will be at home, and a Black Friday takedown of the No. 3 Aggies would make a good last impression entering Selection Sunday.
And yet even then the Longhorns would be at the committee’s mercy and left rooting for upsets elsewhere, because in a crowded playoff race, 9-3 might well not cut it.
Two teams in Texas sit in great shape for playoff qualification. The Longhorns aren’t one of them. It’s come to this.
“Disappointing,” Sarkisian said.
That says it all.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.