3-2-1: The Longhorns fall to Georgia at home, 30-15
A dismal offensive performance that saw Texas briefly make a switch at quarterback resulted in the first defeat of the season for the No. 1 Longhorns, one that came at the hands of the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs. Here are three plays, two players, and one moment that stood out from the game.
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Three Plays
Daylan Everette forces a first-quarter fumble that leads to a Georgia score
In case anyone needed a reminder, Georgia has a high-quality, smart, and well-called defense. Quinn Ewers felt the brunt of it in the first quarter.
Daylan Everette deserves credit for a perfectly-timed corner blitz. Everette rushes and hits the Longhorn signal-caller in the back and knocks the ball out. Sometimes the call wins before the play starts. Ewers believes he has time to go through progressions but Everette makes it clear to him that wasn’t the case.
The Bulldogs would eventually go down the field and score on a two-yard Trevor Etienne rush for their first score of the game.
Quinn Ewers’ touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond
After halftime and Ewers’ benching (much, much more on that later), Sarkisian elected to put No. 3 back in as QB1 and he seemed more settled in. A needed fourth-down conversion from Ryan Wingo and a nice pitch-and-catch to Matthew Golden were two plays that looked like the Ewers that Sarkisian showed a lot of confidence in earlier in the day on College GameDay.
The Longhorns, thanks to a pass interference penalty, made their way to the tight red zone and decided it was a good time for Isaiah Bond to play a game of cat and mouse with the defender.
The mouse won, and Texas would convert its two-point attempt.
Trevor Etienne’s one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter
The most effective offensive skill player on the field Saturday night was the Bulldogs’ running back, and his third and final scoring effort put the game at a margin the Longhorns would not be able to overcome.
Etienne rushed 19 times for 87 yards and the three scores. His final six-pointer was a one-yard run on fourth-down that capped the 89-yard drive that made it 30-15.
Texas played a quality game on defense, but was the victim of short fields far too often. Etienne took advantage of those short fields for a day where he trekked into the end zone three different times.
Two Players
Quinn Ewers
In year’s past, Steve Sarkisian stuck with Quinn Ewers through thick and thin. Whether it was Hudson Card backing him up or Maalik Murphy, Ewers was Sarkisian’s guy at quarterback. Struggles against Oklahoma State and TCU in 2022 come to mind.
From those games, Ewers no doubt improved. He became a critical part of the offense in 2023 and was a major part of the Longhorns’ march to the College Football Playoff. Even with Arch Manning on the roster, the threat to Ewers as the starter didn’t come from the nephew of Peyton and Eli in 2023. It really didn’t come at all. Maalik Murphy was the backup. He didn’t come for Ewers’ job.
Murphy transferred to Duke. Ewers returned for a third season in Austin. Manning moved up to the backup role.
Even when Manning stood in for Ewers, Manning would speak similarly to Sarkisian and say Ewers was the starter. That Texas needed him to get where they wanted to go. That version of Ewers, one Sarkisian doted on during College GameDay as able to rise up for big games, was someone who the team believed could end up in New York or go in the first round of the draft.
On Saturday, that Ewers wasn’t on the field. Georgia surged to a 23-0 lead built largely off of two Ewers turnovers, both caused by Everette. One was on an interception where Everette baited the throw and the other a fumble forced on the blindside corner blitz.
Even without those two plays, Ewers could not find any amount of success in the first half. Ewers, who missed two games this season due to an oblique injury and didn’t look strong against Oklahoma in the win, didn’t have a lot of protection in his defense. UGA tallied five sacks in the first half and made the task nearly impossible for Ewers. No. 3 was 6-for-12 for 17 yards and an interception. With just under five minutes left in the half, Manning was thrust into the spotlight and Ewers put on the bench.
It was only a temporary move. Ewers took the field with the first-team offense just after halftime, and had a significantly better time than he did prior to the break.
Though his game improved, it was step up from a basement level and didn’t reach anything resembling the performances he put together against Alabama last season or even Michigan this year.
For every moment like his touchdown pass to Jaydon Blue or one of his several connections with Matthew Golden, there was a overthrow of Blue late on third and long or just the general inability to navigate what was the most pressure he’s seen this season.
One of Ewers’ final completions was emblematic of his whole night. He dropped back, couldn’t deal with the pressure, and found Ryan Wingo but didn’t give a pass that Wingo could then attempt to move across the line to gain. The Longhorns turned the ball over on downs.
Ewers was 19-for-31 for 194 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to finish 25-for-43 for 211 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
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To be certain, it wasn’t all Ewers. Texas’ offensive line had its worst game of the season, from the left side all the way to the right side. Sometime Ewers’ inability to react to pressure was his fault. Sometimes, there was nothing he could do.
And what shape he’s in physically is a question. Ewers did enter the medical tent at least once on Saturday night.
But that’s one of a number of questions about the Longhorn quarterback now that the No. 1 team in the country has been defeated.
Jahdae Barron
Barron played like the numerous NFL scouts in attendance were there to see him. The senior cornerback had one of his best games as a Longhorn, and there have been a number of quality performances this season.
Barron notched two interceptions against Carson Beck, who threw three picks on the day. He also notched a pass breakup along with four tackles.
The senior cornerback led what was a sturdy defensive effort that was all for naught. Georgia only racked up 283 yards and committed three turnovers. However, four of their five scoring drives were shorter than 35 yards. The one that wasn’t so brief was an 89-yard journey down the field in the third quarter that put the Bulldogs at the 30-point mark.
He was part of one of the craziest moments in the history of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
One Moment
Barron’s second interception set up the Longhorns with a nine-yard field late in the third quarter. For a brief moment, it was all undone.
The officials threw a flag on Barron for pass interference, but the play looked more like Arian Smith was blocking Barron than defensive pass interference. While a record crowd at Memorial Stadium celebrated, the officials explained their call. That’s when all hell broke loose.
The call of DPI was made. The replay appeared on the screen, and nearly all of the burnt orange wearing members of the record 105,215 erupted in anger. Sarkisian was as livid as he’s ever been on the sidelines as head coach of Texas. The call was so bad, that a boisterous student section began throwing trash on the field.
The officials had to pause the game to clean up the debris. For some reason, they did not flag Texas as they could have.
Sarkisian needed to plead with the students to stop throwing junk on the field.
The time it took for the trash to get picked up gave the officials an opportunity to discuss and overturn the play, setting Texas up with a short field it would take advantage of. It was the first time Texas fans threw trash onto the field since Tom Herman’s first game against Maryland in 2017.
The change of demeanor from fury to passion was something not typically seen at DKR. It took a little bit of a cleanup effort to get there.
