The Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Longhorns took the field under the lights at Sanford Stadium with a national audience watching on ESPN, witnessing a high-stakes matchup between SEC teams with a College Football Playoff spot on the line. What we saw is a one-sided game that clearly demonstrated who is the superior team.
Let’s dive into the winners and losers from the Bulldogs’ statement win over the Longhorns on Saturday night.
Related: Week 13 College Football Rankings, Projecting College Football Playoff Rankings
Winner: Kirby Smart’s Aggressiveness
It’s certainly a cliche to say one team wanted it more than the other, given the stakes of this matchup. What Saturday did show is the lengths Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was willing to go to beat Texas and his confidence in this team was rewarded. In a 14-10 game in the third quarter, Smart kept his offense on the field on 4th-and-1 at the 34-yard line. The call paid off and eight plays later, the Bulldogs found the end zone. Smart wasn’t done. On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia stunned Texas with the onside attempt and recovered it. That was followed up with a nine-play, 53-yard touchdown drive to give the Bulldogs a decisive 28-10 lead with less than 9 minutes to go. Smart not only outcoached Steve Sarkisian, he displayed far more confidence in his players and went for the kill shot when it mattered.
Loser: Texas Longhorns’ Composure
Where should we start? With two weeks to prepare for Georgia, the Longhorns offense looked completely unprepared for the magnitude of this matchup in Athens. Fingers can be pointed everywhere. On the rare occasion when Texas generated an explosive play, it was called back by a penalty. That proved to be the theme of the night for a team with 9 penalties for 58 yards. When a flag wasn’t thrown, you could find a Longhorns’ skill player dropped an on-target throw from Arch Manning. A lot of this, of course, reflects on the coaches.
Winner: Gunner Stockton Delivers in another Big Win
Gunner Stockton has been one of the most impressive quarterbacks in college football this season. The Georgia native rallied his team to a comeback win at Neyland Stadium vs Tennessee and nearly did it again two weeks later in a second-half rally that fell short (because of a dropped touchdown) versus Alabama. In the win versus Ole Miss, Stockton put up 5 total touchdowns with 348 total yards of offense. On Saturday night against Texas, Stockton delivered another five-touchdown performance. The talent is impressive, but it’s the leadership and poise that really stands out.
Loser: Arch Manning Hype Train Derails Again
Highlighting Arch Manning isn’t to say he shoulders a majority of the blame for the blowout loss to Georgia. As we previously mentioned, Texas had multiple drives derailed either by drops or penalties. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the Longhorns offensive line played poorly. What Saturday did show is that Manning doesn’t have the poise, nor the accuracy or the elite physical tools to overcome those issues and carry an offense to victory. He’s just “fine” as a college quarterback, that’s it. Maybe that will change in 2026, when he returns, but this game was another reminder that there’s just something missing with him.
Winner: Georgia Bulldogs Defense
The points allowed by Georgia’s defense in the last two games will be a bit misleading since Mississippi State put up 2 garbage-time touchdowns in a 38-7 game. So, we’ll highlight that the Bulldogs allowed 206 total yards to Texas on 8 drives outside of garbage time on Saturday night and Mississippi State put up 149 total yards on 7 drives before garbage time in their meeting versus Georgia. The Bulldogs’ pass rush feasted on the Longhorns offensive line and you also have to give credit to how well Georgia’s defensive backs fared in coverage. This is much closer to the version of this defense that fans have been waiting for.
