Pressure Washing in Austin, GA

The Georgia Bulldogs are in the midst of their College Football Playoff practices in the lead-up to their matchup against the Ole Miss Rebels in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Here are our notes from the practice viewing period.

The Bulldogs have become quite frequent attendees of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Under head coach Kirby Smart, this is their fourth trip to New Orleans, Louisiana, for the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs are currently (1-2) under Kirby Smart, with the most recent loss coming a year ago in the CFP to the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Yet again, the SEC Champion, the Bulldogs, now welcome a rematch in the form of the Ole Miss Rebels. (12-1) Georgia, (12-1) Ole Miss at 8 PM on January 1st. But first, a 15-minute practice viewing window here in Athens, Georgia.

Notes From Georgia Practice Viewing Period:

Notes on Injuries: - DE, Gabe Harris is currently dealing with a turf toe injury. He was not seen during the practice viewing portion. That's not to say he didn't come running out of the locker room the moment we were herded out of the building. - TE, Ethan Barbour was back and a full participant at practice. The Freshman TE suffered an ankle injury week two of the season. - WR, Colbie Young has been out due to an ankle injury. He was seen and was a full participant during the viewing period. - OL, Drew Bobo is OUT due to a foot injury and is expected to miss the Sugar Bowl.

Notes: The media viewing period consisted of two individual periods that were seperated by offense on the outside practice fields, and the defens on the inside practice fields.

Notes on Early Enrollees: Sources have indicated to Bulldogs on SI that the following freshmen have enrolled and are with the team. - S, Tyriq Green - LB, Nick Abrams - DL, PJ Dean - DL, Valdin Sone - WR, Craig Daindridge - WR, Ryan Mosely - TE, Lincoln Keyes - OT, Ekene Ogboko - OL, Zykie Helton

Georgia is set to travel to New Orleans on December 30th, where they will spend several days going through Sugar Bowl events. They will practice twice in New Orleans before getting set to take on the Rebels.

Georgia won the first matchup 43 to 35 in Athens. The Bulldogs were down nine points at one point in the fourth quarter when RB Josh McCray was hit behind the line of scrimmage on a 4th and 2, but was able to run through several Ole Miss defenders on his way to converting. Several Bulldogs scores and a few defensive stops later, the Bulldogs escaped with the win.

Trailing in games was nothing but par for the course for this Bulldogs unit this season; they trailed in all but one of their 8 SEC games this season.

ATHENS, Ga. — From No. 1 to possibly done?

Texas football fell behind No. 5 Georgia early and collapsed later on in a costly 35-10 loss Saturday at Sanford Stadium. Voted atop the Associated Press and US LBM Coaches preseason polls and ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings this week, Texas dropped to 7-3 on the season with a 4-2 mark in SEC play.

Is the Texas season over? Not technically. With games against Arkansas and Texas A&M left on the schedule, Texas could conceivably still do enough to impress the College Football Playoff committee.

Before Saturday's game, SEC commissioner Grey Sankey held court in the Sanford Stadium press box and said he believed that a three-loss team could remain in the playoff picture. Sankey noted that as a three-loss team last year, Alabama "earned that top-12 ranking."

Alabama actually earned the No. 11 ranking on Selection Day last year. The Crimson Tide, however, wasn't seeded in the College Football Playoff bracket. Since Arizona State and Clemson won the Big 12 and ACC championships, those two teams cut in front of Alabama even though they were respectively listed 12th and 16th in the final rankings. A similar scenario could play out this year since the playoff saves spots for the five-best conference champions, which is why No. 15 Miami and No. 24 South Florida made the cut in this past week's projected playoff field while No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 12 BYU were left out.

In other words, Texas will probably need to be ranked in the top-10 when the final rankings are released Dec. 7. This Tuesday, UT will find out how much the Georgia loss will cost them in the rankings after a weekend in which it lost by 25 points while Oklahoma, Miami and No. 13 Utah, No. 16 Georgia Tech, No. 17 USC, No. 18 Michigan and No. 19 Virginia all won (No. 14 Vanderbilt was idle while BYU was also playing a late game against TCU).

Texas scores first but still falls behind early at Sanford Stadium

On Saturday, Georgia (9-1, 7-1) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions while Texas just tallied three points over the first two times it touched the ball. The story of those game-opening drives? How the offenses fared on third down.

Texas went 0-for-3 on third down during its first two possessions with the most egregious of its misses being a pass dropped by Ryan Wingo that likely would have given Texas a first down inside the Georgia 10. Meanwhile, Georgia set up its first touchdown with a third-and-10 conversion and then scored its second touchdown on a third-and-goal try.

That 14-3 score held up into the halftime break as Texas struggled through a first-half performance that featured three drives into Georgia territory but three offensive drops and seven penalties.

In the third quarter, an interception by linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and Georgia's first penalty of the night — a pass interference on a third-and-13 play — set Texas up for its first touchdown of the evening, a 7-yard catch by Wingo. Any momentum gained by the Longhorns was quickly stunted by a 10-play drive that featured Georgia converting two fourth-down attempts and a Gunner Stockton touchdown pass. Georgia then recovered its first onside kick since 2013 and Stockton later threw his fourth touchdown pass of the evening to lift Georgia to a 28-10 advantage.

Up next: Texas returns home for Arkansas game

Texas will return to Royal-Memorial Stadium for its final two games of the regular season. Next weekend, the Longhorns will host SEC bottom-dweller Arkansas (2-8, 0-6).

The Longhorns closed out the 2025 season with a 2-3 showing in its road games. Texas also lost games at Ohio State and Florida, and needed overtime sessions in order to escape its trips to Kentucky and Mississippi State with victories.

Texas has now lost three times to Georgia since it joined the SEC ahead of the 2024 season. Last year, Georgia recorded a 30-15 win over UT in Austin and then beat the Longhorns in the SEC championship game.

Before the Thanksgiving rivalries keep the plates of college football fans everywhere full, many of the SEC's top teams dine on tasty sweets.

Teams like Samford, Charlotte, Mercer and Eastern Illinois line the schedule. Tennessee even gets the joy of playing 3-7 Florida.

There are a few notable matchups for teams that remain in the chase for the College Football Playoff, though. Oklahoma hosts Missouri and Vanderbilt welcomes Kentucky to Nashville, Tenn. Texas, clinging onto its CFP hopes for dear life after a decisive loss at Georgia, will battle an Arkansas team that would like nothing more than to hand the Longhorns their fourth loss.

Here's how the SEC power rankings shape up heading into this week's action.

1. Texas A&M

A one-point victory over a three-win South Carolina isn’t an impressive outcome for the Aggies. But, as the folks in College Station continue to fight against old habits involving late-season collapses and unfulfilled expectations, it might have been the most important victory of the season. Texas A&M stormed back from a 27-point halftime deficit behind 439 passing yards from Marcel Reed. A place in the College Football Playoff is now all but assured.

Last week: No. 1, beat South Carolina 31-30

2. Georgia

The Bulldogs didn’t just beat Texas, they thoroughly outclassed one of college football’s most expensive rosters in every facet of the game. Gunner Stockton ripped apart Texas’ secondary, the Georgia defensive front annihilated the Longhorns’ run game and Kirby Smart threw in a surprise onside kick for good measure. Georgia owns the Longhorns, now with three wins over Texas in three different stadiums in the last 13 months.

Last week: No. 3, beat Texas 35-10

This week: vs. Charlotte

3. Ole Miss

If you ignore the Lane Kiffin sideshow, things couldn’t be going much better in Oxford. The Rebels are almost certainly headed to the CFP for the first time, and they might even crack the SEC title game for the first time ever if they get some help. But it’s tough to ignore a sitting head coach reportedly sending his family to tour Baton Rouge amid LSU’s coaching search. Reports also indicate Ole Miss has given Kiffin a deadline to decide whether he’s staying or going, and could hold him out of coaching in the playoff.

Last week: No. 4, beat Florida 34-24

This week: Bye

4. Oklahoma

The John Mateer experience is teetering on a disappointment in Norman, Okla with five games now separating the prized transfer QB from his last 250-yard performance. But Brent Venables has built a defense so dominant that it hasn’t really mattered. Playing without their best pass rusher in R. Mason Thomas, Oklahoma became the first visiting team to win in Tuscaloosa since Texas in 2023.

Last week: No. 6, beat Alabama 23-21

This week: vs. Missouri

5. Alabama

Even when you’ve got a Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback and one of the best defenses in the country, it’s still mandatory to execute on the little things in order to win in the SEC. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over three times and missed a field goal on its way to a damaging loss, despite outgaining Oklahoma 406-212.

Last week: No. 2, lost to Oklahoma 23-21

This week: vs. Eastern Illinois

6. Vanderbilt

The pieces on the board aren’t falling in the Commodores’ favor as they bid to convert one of their best seasons in modern history into a playoff appearance. Oklahoma’s win at Alabama put the Sooners firmly ahead of Vanderbilt in the hierarchy, and Tennessee’s recent fall off means Vandy doesn’t have a great opportunity to pad its resume in the final two weeks. The Commodores need some help.

Last week: No. 7, did not play

This week: vs. Kentucky

7. Tennessee

The Volunteers reacted to their College Football Playoff hopes likely coming to an end by bludgeoning a hapless New Mexico State team at home. Josh Heupel can still win nine games for the fourth consecutive year if Tennessee wins out. That’s something the program hasn’t achieved since 1999.

Last week: No. 8, beat New Mexico State 42-9

This week: at Florida

8. Texas

Steve Sarkisian pushed back on the idea that his team hasn’t met expectations, pointing out that the Longhorns have played a tough schedule. But so has everybody else in the SEC. Texas has the resources and talent to be a College Football Playoff team at the bare minimum. After laying yet another egg against Georgia, the Longhorns will likely be watching this year’s postseason from home.

Last week: No. 5, lost to Georgia 35-10

9. Missouri

Ahmad Hardy put together one of the greatest rushing performances you’re likely to see last week, carrying the ball 25 times for 300 yards and three touchdowns against Mississippi State. He’s up to 1,346 yards on the season, putting him in range of Cody Schrader’s single-season school record of 1,627 yards. As coach Eliah Drinkwitz continues to be mentioned as a candidate for bigger jobs. Hardy’s record chase gives the Tigers something tangible to focus on as they conclude their season.

Last week: No. 9, beat Mississippi State 49-27

This week: at Oklahoma

10. LSU

Nothing the Tigers are doing on the field at the moment matters more than the impression LSU made with the Kiffin family, which reportedly toured Baton Rouge this week. A win over Arkansas this week did give interim coach Frank Wilson a moment to remember, though, as he collected his first victory as a head coach in six years.

Last week: No. 10, beat Arkansas 23-22

This week: vs. Western Kentucky

11. Kentucky

Mark Stoops has two shots at collecting a sixth win and earning the bowl eligibility that would come with it, after the Wildcats handled business against FCS Tennessee Tech last week. A trip to Vanderbilt this week would seem like the more difficult of the two remaining games on UK’s schedule, with a rivalry matchup at Louisville set for the final week of the season.

Last week: No. 11, beat Tennessee Tech 42-10

This week: at Vanderbilt

12. Mississippi State

The Bulldogs stuck with Blake Shapen over the dynamic Kamario Taylor at quarterback against Mizzou, and it didn’t work. Shapen completed only 58% of his passes and averaged 3.3 yards per attempt while throwing a pair of interceptions. Now, Mississippi State has to beat Ole Miss to go bowling for the first time since 2022.

Last week: No. 12, lost to Missouri 49-27

This week: Bye

13. Auburn

The Tigers are holding quarterback Ashton Daniels out this week in an effort to preserve his redshirt. They shouldn't need him against Mercer, but they will a week later. Auburn hosts Alabama in the final week of the season. The Tigers haven’t won the Iron Bowl since 2019, Bo Nix’s freshman season on the Plains.

Last week: No. 14, did not play

This week: vs. Mercer

14. Florida

Last week’s game against Ole Miss was a non-event for many Florida fans who just wanted to get a first look at Kiffin, their preferred candidate to fill their vacant coaching job. And that’s probably for the best, because Ole Miss ripped apart the Florida defense for 538 total yards and scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to hand the Gators their seventh loss.

Last week: No. 15, lost to Ole Miss 34-24

This week: vs Tennessee

15. South Carolina

Saturday’s loss to Texas A&M was the kind that can seal a head coach’s fate. Shane Beamer entered the tunnel at halftime hyping up the traveling South Carolina fans and holding a 27-point lead against the unbeaten Aggies. He left the field with another borderline incomprehensible loss. The Gamecocks, ranked 13th in the country to begin the season, haven’t won since September.

Last week: No. 13, lost to Texas A&M 31-30

This week: vs. Coastal Carolina

16. Arkansas

The torture chamber just won’t release the Razorbacks, who dropped a 23-22 game at LSU over the weekend. Arkansas has lost eight consecutive games, and six of those defeats have come by one-score margins. Bobby Petrino has the Razorbacks playing some of the most dynamic offensive football in the country, but they’re turning the ball over too often for it to count for much.

Last week: No. 16, lost at LSU 23-22

This week: at Texas

For at least the opening drive of last Saturday’s 35-10 loss at Georgia, Texas football seemed to tap into its offensive potential.

On a 13-play, 59-yard march capped by a field goal from Mason Shipley, the Longhorns ran for 33 yards on seven carries and quarterback Arch Manning threw for 31 yards without taking any pressure on five dropbacks. The template seemed set for a Longhorns attack that has been grasping for balance all season.

What happened? How did No. 17 Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) end up with just 40 yards gained on the ground on 17 rushes before factoring in sacks while Manning threw the ball 43 times against a fearsome Georgia pass rush? And will Texas forsake the ground game in this week’s matchup against visiting Arkansas?

"I thought we actually ran the ball relatively effectively," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday, offering an explanation why the Longhorns all but vacated their rushing attack despite the early success. “We knew we wanted to be aggressive; we knew we wanted to attack (Georgia) down the field. I thought we took enough shots to do that. I don't think we were prepared to abandon the run by any means.”

NO. 17 TEXAS VS. ARKANSAS

When/where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

TV/radio: ABC; 1300 AM, 98.1 FM, 105.3 FM (Spanish)

CJ Baxter: Light work in blowout loss

But they did, even before they fell into a 28-10 hole early in the fourth quarter after back-to-back Bulldogs touchdowns sandwiched around a successful onside kick. In the seven drives after its opening possession and before Georgia opened its big lead in the fourth quarter, Texas ran the ball seven times compared to 26 passes. Three of those runs came on end-arounds by Ryan Wingo, and one was a sack by Manning.

Running back Tre Wisner had 30 yards on five carries on the opening drive and ended the game with 37 yards on nine carries. Fellow back CJ Baxter had his lone carry for 3 yards on the opening drive.

So, did the Georgia defense take the run game away from Texas, or did the Longhorns just lean into Manning and his red-hot arm, which has accounted for 77.9% of the Texas offense in SEC play?

“It wasn’t an either/or thing,” Baxter said. “Sark (Sarkisian) does a tremendous job play-calling from something that he's seen. We believe in his play-calling. Whatever you call, we’re trying to go out there and execute it.”

Left tackle Trevor Goosby, who’s been the most consistent blocker on an up-and-down offensive line, said maintaining “consistency” is crucial, especially in a raucous road environment like what the Longhorns saw in Athens, Ga.

“It’s just having that same mindset that we came out with and executing at a really high level,” Goosby said. “It starts up front with us as an offensive line. I think it was just kind of the moment got to us. Sanford Stadium was a really electric environment. I think we just got a little, mentally, just foggy.”

Arch Manning: Running game ‘opens up’ offense

To his credit, Baxter on Monday delivered a player’s perspective on why the running game didn’t get more work against Georgia — and why it needs to find traction in Texas' final two games of the regular season against Arkansas Saturday and Nov. 28 against Texas A&M.

“When you have the run game going, you can drop back in play-action pass and make the linebackers and the safeties come up,” Baxter said. “It makes Arch more comfortable because then the secondary and even their pass rushers, they don't know if it's a run or pass. So, it just helps a ton. When we get that going, the offense is going.”

Manning also said that “you always want to run the ball,” especially against a defense like Georgia that can get especially creative with its pressure packages.

“It just opens up the offense, and you can call whatever you want,” he said.

Steve Sarkisian: Offense can’t be ‘one-dimensional’

In these final two weeks, can Texas open up the offense and make one final push for a College Football Playoff spot? The lack of a running game has dragged down a unit that ranks 10th in the 16-team SEC in total offense with 370.7 yards a game and 11th in scoring with 27.6 points a game.

Texas averaged 1.4 yards per rush against Georgia. For the season, the Longhorns now sit 12th in the SEC with an average of 3.7 yards per carry as well as 12th with an average of 124.1 rushing yards per game. On the season, the Longhorns are averaging 2.49 yards after contact per rush, the lowest mark of any Power Four team in the country.

Last season, Texas averaged 158.8 yards rushing a game with a respectable per-carry average of 4.3 yards.

Sarkisian rarely engages in in-season retrospection, but acknowledged why the pieces in the running game worked better last season. Not coincidentally, Texas had four offensive linemen (Kelvin Banks Jr., Cam Williams, Hayden Conner and Jake Majors) two receivers (Matthew Golden and Isaiah Bond), a running back (Jaydon Blue) and a tight end (Gunnar Helm) on the 2024 offense that are currently rostered in the NFL.

“I felt like we were blocking well in the run game, I felt like we found a rhythm in the run game with Tre,” he said. “I feel like we had real threats on the outside, so I think people are deploying a little bit differently on us (this year).”

But this year’s offense features plenty of talent, too, and Sarkisian said finding consistent production on the ground could determine whether Texas makes a final push for the playoffs or limps into a lesser bowl game.

“At the end of the day, we have to be better running ball, there's no question about it,” Sarkisian said. “There’s nobody in our building thinking, ‘Hey, we're good.’ But we've got to find a way to do that, whether that's schematically, whether that's personnel, whether that's shrinking the plan, whether that's expanding the plan. There's a lot of ways to get that done, but we've got to find a way to gain yards on the ground to where we aren't just a one-dimensional football team.”

On Oct. 20, Steve Sarkisian expressed his intent to make a sweeping change to the way Texas football was playing offense.

The Longhorns would stop taking so many chances down the field, the coach declared. That, in his view, would allow Texas to complement what at the time looked like an elite defense and an even better special teams unit.

“To do that,” Sarkisian said at the time, “you’ve got to execute on third-and-1-to-6.”

The Longhorns faced five third-down attempts from that distance in Saturday night’s 35-10 loss to Georgia. They converted just once.

Several problems defined another lackluster offensive performance by Texas in a big game. Among the most influential? The absence of a reliable run game to move the chains.

On its first third down of the night, Texas attempted to establish control of the line of scrimmage. Quintrevion Wisner took a third-and-3 handoff over the left guard and was met in the hole by Georgia’s CJ Allen, who stood his ground and ensured Wisner didn’t convert.

That set the tone, and not in the way the Longhorns wanted. They didn’t attempt another third-down rush all night, excluding a quarterback draw designed for Arch Manning on third-and-forever.

Texas averaged 1.4 yards per rush on the night. For the season, the Longhorns now sit 12th in the 16-team SEC with an average of 3.7 yards per carry.

Sarkisian, though, defended his rushing offense.

“I thought we actually ran it pretty good,” he said postgame. “We just didn’t get enough opportunities.”

Why is the Texas Longhorns’ run game struggling?

It’s true that the game flow quickly forced Texas away from its rushing attack. The Longhorns embarked on 11 drives all night, and they were down multiple scores on nine of them. In a neutral game state, the Longhorns averaged 4.4 yards per rush.

But that’s a small sample, encapsulating just seven of Texas’ 17 rushing attempts. And it’s not an incredibly efficient number. Sixty FBS teams are averaging more than 4.4 yards per carry on the season.

The rest of the game highlighted problems the Longhorns have endured all season in the running game: Their offensive line isn’t particularly effective, and the Texas running backs lack the physicality and explosiveness to compensate for it.

Texas averaged 1.71 yards after contact per attempt against the Bulldogs — a remarkably low number. On the season, the Longhorns are averaging 2.49 yards after contact per rush. That’s the lowest mark of any Power Four team in the country.

Texas can’t make Malik Muhammad’s dominance count

A casual Longhorns fan might not know a lot about Malik Muhammad. He doesn’t often get his name called on television broadcasts, after all.

That’s because he’s rarely thrown at. Muhammad was targeted just three times against the Bulldogs. Those targets turned into 18 yards.

Gunner Stockton and Georgia spent the rest of the evening getting whatever they wanted against just about every other member of the Texas secondary. The Bulldogs averaged 8.1 yards per attempt when picking on the other Longhorns.

The yearlong numbers reveal an even greater disparity. Opposing quarterbacks are averaging 4.4 yards per attempt when targeting receivers covered by Muhammad. Against everybody else on the Longhorns’ roster, they’re averaging 7.1 yards per attempt.

Why, then, would anybody throw the ball Muhammad’s way? On a per-snap basis, only six starting corners among power conference teams are being targeted less frequently.

Longhorns' defense loses pass-rushing battle

For the last four weeks, the Longhorns’ pass rush had looked like the supercharged unit it was built up to be over the offseason.

After accumulating just nine sacks in its first five games, Texas broke out for 25 sacks in the next four, including a six-sack performance against the slippery Diego Pavia last time out.

Saturday, the Longhorns only got to Stockton twice. Even worse, they left themselves vulnerable down the field while trying to establish that pressure.

Texas blitzed on 59.4% of Stockton’s dropbacks, by far the most aggressive posture adopted by Pete Kwiatkowski’s unit this year. The Longhorns blitzed Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin on 45% of his passing reps in Week 1, which served as their previous season high.

Georgia’s response to that aggression was masterful. The Bulldogs allowed pressure on just 25% of Stockton’s dropbacks. When blitzed, Stockton averaged 8 yards per attempt and threw three touchdowns.

Texas football wide receivers can’t make the most of increased opportunity

Sarkisian has moved away from personnel groupings that involve multiple tight ends in recent weeks, something he favored earlier in the season.

Backup tight end Jordan Washington got just 18 of 63 possible reps against Georgia. Spencer Shannon and Nick Townsend, who’d both featured regularly throughout the season in specific packages, did not play on offense.

The Longhorns got creative with some two-running-back sets early, but ultimately the shift resulted in Texas spending most of the game with three wide receivers on the field.

For the second time in as many weeks, those receivers failed to reliably catch the ball. Texas was officially credited with four drops against Georgia, though the film presents evidence for several more. The Longhorns also dropped four passes in their Week 9 win over Mississippi State. Before that, they’d dropped one pass all season.

The Texas football true freshman report

The Longhorns fielded the fewest freshmen of any game this season, with only six rookies seeing the field in Athens.

Graceson Littleton and Kade Phillips, both defensive backs, played the most. Neither player struggled too much on a tough day for the Texas secondary, though Phillips was in coverage for one of Stockton’s four passing touchdowns.

Justus Terry, playing in his home state, made four tackles and registered 1½ tackles for loss from just nine snaps in what was the best showing by a Texas freshman on the night.

Lance Jackson, Jonah Williams and Nick Townsend also saw the field. Notably, Williams’ appearance was his fifth of the season, meaning the safety is no longer eligible for a redshirt.