No. 1 Texas football falls to No. 5 Georgia in a ‘tale of two halves’ – The Daily Texan

With its first 30-15 loss to No. 5 Georgia, Texas finally earned an invitation to the toughest conference in the country, despite a tough fight late in the game.

“(The game was) truly a tale of two halves,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “You know, we just had a very difficult first half offensively. We just didn’t play our best football… I was really proud of their ability to come into the locker room at halftime, regroup, step up and fight in the second half and I think they showed the heart of a champion .”

From the moment the first cannon was fired, Georgia was dominant. In the first half, the Bulldogs held 170 total yards to Texas’ 38 and led 23-0.

While the Longhorn defense was caught off guard by a fast-paced, high-powered offense that it hadn’t seen this season, the main problem lay with its offense.

After looking a little rusty in the last game, junior quarterback Quinn Ewers continued to play below his usual standard, completing six of 12 completions with one interception in the first half. And for the first time this season, head coach Steve Sarkisian made the decision to bring in backup redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning not because of a big lead or an injury, but because of a poor performance.

Manning took a 3-6 lead with five minutes left in the half.

The Texas team in the first half couldn’t find much space in the Georgia offense, especially in the running game with a total of two yards. The Texas defense also secured two interceptions in the first two quarters, but was unable to convert any turnovers into points. Georgia was able to secure 17 points from Texas turnovers over the course of the game.

Despite the setbacks, Ewers returned in the second half and appeared to shake off some of the rust he had in the first half. With a two-yard pass to junior wide receiver Isaiah Bond, the offense worked its way seamlessly down the field and scored its first touchdown. Then their next offensive attack ended with a touchdown on a pass from Ewers to junior running back Jaydon Blue for 17 yards after an interception by senior defender Jahdae Barron, a play that itself caused much controversy.

Despite going into each week and treating each one the same, it was obvious that Texas was getting tossed by the No. 5 team and went 2-14 on third down conversions, something the Longhorns did in with a season rate of 43, 2% are strong.

Ewers admitted he had not played at the level he normally did or in training before the game and took the blame for the defeat, saying: “It starts with me.”

“I trained well all week,” Ewers said. “It felt good. “I felt good during our Perfect Thursday practice, the first half and the first quarter.”

Despite the loss, the team and Sarkisian know they can’t hold out, especially in an SEC conference where the weekly matchup will continue to put pressure on them.

“Losing a game like that doesn’t kill you,” Sarkisian said. “Everything we want is still ahead of us. The challenge for us is to regroup, get back off the mat and get ready for a Vanderbilt team next week.”