Red zone woes prove to be the difference in Texas' 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia

ATLANTA — In two games against the Georgia Bulldogs, the Texas Longhorns are 3-for-5 in their red zone attempts. The SEC Championship saw the Longhorns go 1-for-2 officially inside the 20, with one trip resulting in a Bert Auburn missed field goal and the other being the kick that Auburn converted to tie the contest at 16 and eventually send to.

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But after the game, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian lamented his team’s inability to succeed in the high red zone. Defining “high red zone” as reaching inside the opponent’s 25, and the Longhorns’ failure to move the football in the last quarter of the field shines through.

Especially in a game Georgia won 22-16 because it scored a Trevor Etienne walk-off touchdown in overtime after the Longhorns managed just a field goal.

Texas had five trips inside the high red zone in the SEC Championship. Those ventures were no flukes either. In regulation, the Longhorns amassed 379 yards with 353 of them through the air via the arm of Quinn Ewers. Only Alabama, who notched 374 passing yards in a win over the Bulldogs, recorded more yards through the air on the UGA defense in 2024.

The Longhorns failed to convert yards into points. On those five ventures inside the high red zone, Texas netted six total points. There were opportunities to add more points on the board, as Matthew Golden, DeAndre Moore, Ryan Wingo, and Gunnar Helm all had chances on Saturday to haul in six-point scores in situations where Texas snapped the ball inside the Bulldog 25. Those opportunities were left unconverted.

“I think the negative plays kind of hurt us when we got there,” Sarkisian said. “I think a couple of the penalties when we got down there hurt us, as well. You’re playing behind the chains, which is never where you want to be in the red area. Anytime you’re in third-and-long in the high red, red, those are difficult circumstances to be in.”

In stark contrast to the Longhorns, Georgia was 3-for-3 in the red zone with a touchdown and two field goals.

The only touchdown of the game for the Longhorns was via the pass from well outside the high red. Needing a game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, Ewers found Moore on a short pass over the middle. Moore made one defender miss and rumbled for a 41-yard game tying score.

Yards through the passing game were easy to come by for Texas. Ewers was 27-for-46 for 358 yards and a touchdown along with two interceptions. One pick was on a ball misplayed by Isaiah Bond on the Longhorns’ first drive. The other was in the fourth quarter, but the favor was returned by Georgia right after to set up the Longhorns’ first game-tying field goal that made it 16-16.

Plus, Texas boasted two 100-yard receivers against the Bulldog defense. Moore caught nine passes on 14 targets for 114 yards with his 41-yard score. Golden hauled in eight passes on 13 targets for 162 yards with a long of 50. He averaged 20.3 yards per catch.

Ground yards were a chore, something that exasperated Texas’ high red zone issues. Quintrevion Wisner, part of a Texas rushing offense that had seemingly found a stride over the course of the last month, was held to 51 yards on 19 carries. Texas officially had 31 yards rushing. The sack-adjusted total? Not much better. Fifty-eight yards.

The 2024 SEC Championship remained tight throughout, even with the Longhorns zooming up and down the field early to a certain extent. The complexion of the game seemingly changed with Georgia quarterback Carson Beck was injured on the final play of the first half. He was replaced by Gunner Stockton, who in his first drive led the Bulldogs down the field for a score to make it 10-6 Georgia.

Stockton was also the reason the Longhorns were able to tie. He threw an interception to Jahdae Barron late in the fourth to set up the game-tying field goal when draining the clock was available to the Bulldogs if Stockton had just held onto the ball.

Barron, who seemingly had nothing but green grass in front of him and said as much postgame, was tackled by an unblocked Oscar Delp even though Jaylon Guilbeau could have made contact with the Georgia tight end. Had he, Texas might have put up six defensive points.

That didn’t happen and in overtime after Auburn hit a field goal, Stockton rushed up the middle on the Bulldogs’ first possession. He was leveled by Andrew Mukuba, his helmet was knocked off, and rather than put in third-stringer Ryan Puglisi, Georgia trotted Beck back into the game for the mandated play off for Stockton. There was not much Beck could do, as his throwing arm had been iced down for most of the second half. He was in there to hand off the football.

In the red zone, the Bulldogs succeeded again. The overtime conversion is not reflected in the official game stats, but the fourth successful trip in the red zone won the game and the 2024 SEC Championship for the Bulldogs.

“The overtime was kind of a microcosm of the game,” Sarkisian said. “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.”

The season does not end for the Longhorns. Sarkisian rightly acknowledged in his postgame press conference that his team is a playoff lock, and a home game is very likely.

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But as Sarkisian also acknowledged, his team will improve in the high red zone if it wants to advance and contend for a national championship. After all, the inability to turn trips into touchdowns is what cost his team the SEC championship.

“If we’re fortunate enough to see them again, we’re going to have to improve in that area,” Sarkisian said.