“They tried to rob us here with calls”

AUSTIN, Texas — Georgia’s defense celebrated No. 1 Texas after Kirby Smart said his Bulldogs came to Texas to “eat.”

Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) defeated the Longhorns 30-15 on Saturday night at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, forcing four turnovers and sacking the Longhorns’ quarterbacks seven times.

The Bulldogs, who enter the game as a No. 5 seed and are an underdog for the first time since 2021, are back atop the SEC after starting the season as a No. 1 seed in the preseason.

“Our intention was to come eat and be hungry,” said Smart, who is now 100-17 in his nine seasons leading Georgia. “I’m not interested in all the bells and whistles. What I want is a team that fights hard and they did that tonight.”

The Bulldogs took a 23-0 halftime lead before Texas (6-1, 2-1) scored on its first two possessions of the second half to cut the lead to 23-15.

The game was stopped for about five minutes as Longhorns fans littered the field with plastic bottles and trash. During the delay, officials reversed a pass interference penalty that had negated an interception, leading to Texas gaining possession at the UGA 9 and scoring two plays later to tie within one score.

It was a controversial call, as Smart indicated, and there will be some discussion about whether UGA defensive backs Joenel Aguero and Dan Jackson will be ejected for targeting calls.

Carson Beck, 23 of 41 passes for 175 yards with three interceptions – and five dropped passes – responded by leading an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive that made the score 30-15 with 12:04 left conclusion concluded.

“I thought Carson was very composed all day, he had four drops early in the game and that didn’t faze the kid,” Smart said. “He threw interceptions, it didn’t faze the kid. The guy is a great player. He takes undue criticism and only manages our team.”

The final scoring drive of the night included a 43-yard flea-flicker pass to Oscar Delp and a four-down, 1-yard touchdown run by Trevor Etienne, his third of the night.

“These players bring out the best in me and I’m so proud of these guys because nobody believed us, nobody gave us a chance,” Smart said. “Nobody believed us, and then they tried to rob us with phone calls in this place, and these people are so resilient.”

Smart said Georgia’s road games this season at Kentucky (13-12 win) and Alabama (41-34 loss) had a big impact.

“We won that game at Kentucky and Alabama,” Smart said, “because we didn’t bat an eyelid when you could have batted an eyelash.”

Georgia has next week off before playing Florida in Jacksonville.

“This is another SEC win, and we have another one coming in two weeks,” Smart said. “This group is so resilient, they played so physically.

“We played free football, what Thor (punter Brett Thorson) did was unbelievable, he held them and gave them long fields.”

Thorson punted four times, an average of 54 yards per punt, with Texas losing a total of 9 yards on its punt returns.

Georgia outpaced Texas, No. 7 nationally in offense and scoring, 283 yards to 259 yards, holding the Longhorns to 2 of 14 on third down and stopping them three times on fourth down.

“Defensively, we played well and didn’t give them any big plays,” said Smart, whose team gave up only one play of more than 24 yards — a 34-yarder. “Glenn Schumann did a great job, we played unconventional coverage that we hadn’t played and stopped the run.”

Texas had just 29 yards rushing on 27 carries, while Quinn Ewers had 25 of 43 passes for 211 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Arch Manning also played and was 3 of 6 passing for 19 yards.

“Our defense was embarrassed the week before, but we played really, really well,” Smart said. “When you play really well and still feel embarrassed, we were able to get their attention and I thought they woke up and played really hard today.”