Nobody in the SEC has played better the second half of the season than Texas. Certainly, no defense played better. Physical ball wins in the SEC.
Steve Sarkisian fancied a rematch with Georgia. Texas earned it with a 17-7 win against Texas A&M.
Beating Georgia would signify that Texas now plays the most physical ball in the SEC.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Coaches rarely allow themselves a moment to look too far into the future, but in the immediate aftermath of Texas’ only loss this season, Steve Sarkisian took a quick peek toward the end of the season.
‘Hopefully,’ Sarkisian said on Oct. 19, after a 30-15 loss to Georgia, ‘we get another crack at them.’
Texas earned it, by the way it played in six consecutive victories following that loss.
Here comes Texas vs. Georgia, Part II.
On the line: Conference supremacy, and a College Football Playoff bye into the quarterfinals.
Nobody in the SEC has played better the second half of the season than Texas.
Certainly, no defense played better.
Texas’ defense never allowed Texas A&M into the end zone in a 17-7 victory on Saturday that buttoned up a spot for the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff. The Aggies’ lone touchdown came off an interception return.
‘Best (defense) in the nation,’ Texas defensive lineman Alfred Collins said.
That Collins could make such a comment without hyperbole speaks to how far Sarkisian brought this program in four seasons.
‘We won the game in a physical manner,’ Sarkisian said, ‘which is what we know we needed to do in the Southeastern Conference.’
In four years, Steve Sarkisian built Texas defense ready for SEC
Defense proved a liability in Sarkisian’s first season in charge, the continuation of a Texas program that played too soft for too long.
Before that 2021 season, the SEC voted to add Texas to the conference this season.
Just a couple of months after that vote, Arkansas whipped Texas in a game that showed the Longhorns weren’t physically prepared for the SEC. They had three years to get prepared, though, and Sarkisian transformed Texas at the lines of scrimmage.
Now, the Longhorns ooze veteran maulers on the line on each side of the ball, and it’s notable that Texas allows fewer points per game than any SEC team since Georgia’s 2021 squad, the first of Kirby Smart’s two teams that won back-to-back national championships.
The score of Texas’ loss to Georgia belies how the Longhorns’ defense played in that meeting. Four Texas turnovers persistently painted the Longhorns into bad spots. Only one Georgia scoring drive spanned more than 34 yards, and the Longhorns intercepted Carson Beck three times to keep Texas within spitting distance.
A win in Atlanta would place Texas into the playoff quarterfinals, but it would be symbolic, too, an official passing of the torch that the Georgia program that set the standard for physicality and defensive disruption the past few years gave way to a new batch of bullies.
That’s played out on the field for most of the season. While no SEC defense outperformed Texas, Georgia’s defense really hasn’t come close.
When these teams met in Austin, though, Georgia’s defense looked as menacing as ever.
The Texas offensive line that otherwise has been so sturdy couldn’t protect its quarterbacks, and the moment – and the opponent – just seemed a little too big for the Longhorns to handle.
For 11½ games, Texas looked the part of national championship contender. The exception came throughout that first half against Georgia, while the Bulldogs piled up sacks and turnovers and blitzed their way to an insurmountable 23-point halftime lead.
At that point, it would have been strange to figure that Texas would earn a rematch, but in this messy, murky, upside-down college football season, few teams played as sound as Texas did in November.
Texas Longhorns figured out the SEC, down to the chant
Texas’ critics will point out that the Longhorns faced an accommodating schedule, but elite teams beat opponents they’re supposed to beat and dominate while doing it.
As several SEC playoff contenders suffered puzzling losses to unranked opponents, Texas kept putting the SEC’s bottom-half teams in a vise.
‘The game is won upfront,’ Sarkisian said. ‘We don’t play flag football. We don’t play 7-on-7. You’ve got to be really good upfront, especially in this conference.’
Texas fans figured out what they’re supposed to do in this conference.
As the final seconds ticked off Saturday night, those wearing burnt orange in the crowd of 109,028 began chanting the letters of their new conference.
‘SEC! SEC! SEC!’ they bellowed.
Physical football tends to prevail in this conference.
Didn’t take Texas long to figure that out.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.