The Texas Longhorns and coach Steve Sarkisian lost their first SEC championship game appearance to the Georgia Bulldogs. Texas fell, 22-19, in the first SEC title game to go to overtime.
Texas’ loss means the Longhorns don’t have a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. Instead, Texas, which is the No. 5 seed, will play the 12th-seeded Clemson Tigers.
Sarkisian laments missed opportunities
“I think the challenge in games like this is to maximize the opportunities when you get them. In the first half we had some great opportunities and we just couldn’t capitalize the way we would have liked,” said Sarkisian.
“Clearly the penalties were an issue in the first half where we stalled out on some things and for the in some third-and-longs and whatnot. Our defense played a fantastic first half. I think it was like 260 yards to 54. But the score was 6-3. Clearly we weren’t capitalizing on the opportunities we had.”
Texas’ offense moved the ball more consistently than Georgia, but the Longhorns totaled three turnovers and 11 penalties for 94 yards. Texas struggled blocking Georgia’s front seven and allowed six sacks while only accumulating 31 rushing yards on 28 attempts.
Sarkisian unhappy with Texas’ high red zone offense
Texas drove the ball inside Georgia’s 25 yardline on five different occasions. The Longhorns always seemed to stall once the field shrank around the red zone. Texas scored just one touchdown and settled for six field goal attempts including one in overtime.
“At the end of the day we weren’t effective enough in the high red (area) to put touchdowns on the board. I think that in and of itself was probably a microcosm of the game because we had plenty of opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize on them,” said Sarkisian.
Sacks and penalties plagued Texas around the red zone.
On Georgia’s fake punt
“We had a return set up,” said Sarkisian on Georgia’s fake punt. “They ran a motion. I thought we actually defended it relatively well. … We lost some of our edge containment there.”
“The kid (Arian Smith) they flipped the ball to is a 10 200-meter guy. I know him well, recruited him out of high school. It turns into a foot race at that moment. It wasn’t like we got completely duped and had no clue,” continued Sarkisian. “Nice play by them. Good execution.”
On UGA’s red zone defense
“They’re a good football team. They’ve got good schemes, good players. There were a couple bang-bang plays we weren’t able to get. I think the negative plays kind of hurt us when we got there (to the red zone),” said Sarkisian. “The overtime was kind of a microcosm of the game. We couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. We had to settle for a field goal. That opened the door for them to score and win the ballgame.”
“If we’re fortunate enough to see them again, we’re going to have to improve in that area,” Sarkisian noted.
If Georgia and Texas meet for a third time, it will be for a national championship.
