ATLANTA — Remember when Sam Ehlinger infamously declared Texas was “back” after the Longhorns beat Georgia, 28-21, in New Orleans at the 2019 Sugar Bowl?
Neither, then, were the Longhorns back in 2016, when that phrase became part of college football’s lexicon. Credit — or should that be blame? — goes to ABC broadcaster Joe Tessitore. After Texas scored an exciting 50-47 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 4, 2016, Tessitore declared, “Texas is back, folks!”
After Ehlinger’s proclamation, the Longhorns went 8-5 and 7-3 the next two seasons, and coach Tom Herman was fired in 2020. In 2016, Texas went 5-7 and coach Charlie Strong was fired at season’s end.
It’s safe to say now, “the Longhorns are back.”
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Ranked No. 2 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings and looking to finish atop the SEC in its first season in the league, Texas (11-1) will meet Georgia (10-2) in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 4 p.m. Saturday (ABC).
“First year in the conference, it was definitely a goal of ours to be in Atlanta for this game,” said fourth-year coach Steve Sarkisian, who led Texas to the Big 12 championship and a playoff berth last year. “It’s been a challenging regular season to get to this point. Know it’s going to be a heck of a challenge on Saturday, but one we’re looking forward to.”
If you don’t think the Longhorns are certain and quite proud that their beloved football team is back, then you’re not watching that Burnt Orange-wave bearing down on Atlanta for this weekend’s proceedings. Indications are their fans are coming in droves.
“Oh, you better believe it,” said Houston Chronicle columnist Kirk Bohls, who lives in Austin and has chronicled Texas football for decades. “I think Texas might even have a little bit of an edge there. This has to be ho-hum for the Bulldogs. They’re probably, like, ‘can we get this out of the way so we can move on to the playoffs?’ Whereas Texas is trying to make a statement first year in the league.”
That’s a lot to unpack, just as there is a lot to process about Saturday’s matchup. First, there is no actual guarantee that either team — but especially No. 5 Georgia — will have a place in the new 12-team playoff should it lose Saturday’s game. It’s reasonable to assume that both would be, based on the statements of CFP selection-committee chairman Warde Manuel and a preponderance of evidence laid out over the course of a grueling 14-week SEC season.
And Georgia coach Kirby Smart would take issue with the notion that either he nor the fanatical backers of the Bulldogs would be weary of playing in the SEC championship game. This is the fourth consecutive season in which UGA has played in Atlanta for the league title and seventh time overall. But it’s not like the Bulldogs have owned it or anything like that.
In fact, there is a history of heartbreak when it comes to their experience with this game. They’re 2-4 in it, including a three-point loss to Alabama last year that knocked Georgia out of what was then a four-team playoff.
“I’m an SEC enthusiast who believes an SEC title is a significant marker to the kind of season you have,” Smart said during the Thursday’s news conference, conducted via video conference call. “It also gets you a bye (in the playoff), which gives you an opportunity to rest while others play tough opponents. So, it removes you from having to do that and gives you an opportunity to rest.”
That Texas managed to make it to the SEC championship game in its first year as a member is a significant accomplishment on multiple fronts. It is, after all, something that Texas A&M has been unable to do despite being in the league for 13 years now.
What a delight it was for the Longhorns to have denied A&M that opportunity yet again. Texas defeated the Aggies, 17-7, in College Station on Saturday in a “ticket-punch” game that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. The Longhorns thoroughly dominated from buzzer to buzzer.
Texas has been fairly dominant in its first run through an SEC football schedule. Georgia, for one, could probably take issue with that schedule. It certainly didn’t compare with the one the Bulldogs had to navigate, judged at the end of the regular season to be the toughest in college football. Georgia’s two losses came on the road against top-12 opponents Alabama and Ole Miss. The Longhorns played neither one, each of which is still vying for a place in the playoff.
And, lest we forget, the only blemish on Texas’ worksheet is the one it suffered at the hands of this same bunch of Bulldogs. Once again, the Longhorns fully declared themselves “back” for that game Oct. 19 in Austin. They rolled out everything they had shooting off fireworks and conducting the most elaborate drones show ever produced at a college football that night at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
What they didn’t expect to see was a Georgia defense getting after quarterback Quinn Ewers and that slick Sarkisian offense to the tune of seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss, countless QB hurries and 29 yards rushing on 27 attempts.
The Bulldogs didn’t exactly light it up on offense, either. Their 283 total yards was one of the lowest outputs of the season. That also became the second of three times this season that quarterback Carson Beck ended up throwing three interceptions in a game.
Still, Georgia’s superiority was evident throughout. The Bulldogs led 23-0 at halftime. Texas got back in it only after Georgia’s weird, unplanned squib kickoff to start the second half and some inexplicable officiating that resulted in an overturned call and the game being delayed by five minutes because angry fans hurled cans and bottles onto the field.
But when the Longhorns drew within a single score, 23-15, late in the third quarter, Beck orchestrated an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown that would secure victory for the Bulldogs.
And now they’re back. Texas is back and Georgia is back in Atlanta. This is actually what everyone expected. When SEC Football Media Days were held in Dallas in July in honor of the Longhorns and Oklahoma making their long-awaited debut in the SEC, the media predicted that it would be Texas and Georgia in the SEC championship game at season’s end. And here they are, the only difference being that the Longhorns own the No. 1 seed and the Bulldogs are No. 2.
On the line is that first-round bye and a whole bunch of bragging rights that Texas would like to carry back to Austin in those 10-gallon hats.
“When we were at media days in Dallas this summer, I asked (SEC commissioner) Greg Sankey a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek question,” Bohls recalled. “I said, ‘How long before Texas is running things?’ I was speaking to the Texas arrogance and bravado. I’m not sure if he appreciated the question very much, but that’s how Texas thinks of itself. ‘Yeah, we’re arrogant; why wouldn’t we be arrogant?’ ”
So perhaps that’s what is on the line Saturday. Georgia will enter as the Great Defender against arrogance and bravado for the Aggies and Oklahoma and Alabama and the rest of the league.
All of it creates a dramatic backdrop for Saturday’s game. In a year in which there has been much debate over the relevance of conference championship games, for one team at least, an SEC title couldn’t be more relevant.
Sarkisian can validate that. He participated in this game twice as an assistant coach at Alabama (2016 and ‘20). Now in his fourth year with the Longhorns, he knows well what winning this game would mean to his fan base.
“What the SEC does, what it puts into this game, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a tremendous venue, this is a fantastic game to be a part of,” Sarkisian said. “Clearly, we know we’re essentially going on the road for a game, playing Georgia in Atlanta. But I also know there’s ton of pride from Longhorn Nation in support our team, and I do anticipate a good amount of burnt orange in there.
“Tell me how much the ticket prices are, and I can tell you how many Longhorns are going to be there. If the prices keep going up, that means were buying tickets.”
Lower-level tickets were creeping up over $2,000 on Thursday, according to Ticketmaster.com. The record for SEC championship game attendance at The Benz was set last year when 78,320 turned out for Georgia-Alabama. If it’s up to Texas, there will be more Saturday.
