Steve Sarkisian explains Texas’ fourth-quarter ‘disaster’ vs. Georgia

ATHENS — Steve Sarkisian accurately summed up the fourth quarter as “a disaster” for his Texas football team in its 35-10 loss to Georgia on Saturday night.

“It was a pretty good game for three quarters …” said Sarkisian, whose Longhorns saw their College Football Playoff hopes take a hit as the team fell to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.

“But the fourth quarter was, for lack of better terms, a disaster. You know, we got beat 21 to nothing the fourth quarter.”

Sarkisian watched Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SEC) assert themselves with aggressive play calling and clutch execution after Texas had cut the lead to 14-10 with 5:27 left in the third quarter on Arch Manning’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo.

“It was 14-10, they get the ball and they convert two fourth downs, they score, they onside kick, they score again,” Sarkisian said, recapping Georgia’s furious finish.

“They pop a kickoff down. Then we get pinned inside the 10, shank a punt, they score again, it was 21 to nothing in the fourth quarter. So great job by Georgia.”

Sarkisian lamented dropped passes and holding calls that bogged down the Texas offense, leaving Manning with a modest line of 27-of-43 passing for 251 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Sarkisian, now 0-3 against Kirby Smart over the past two seasons, was asked if there something about Georgia’s style of play that was tough to match up against.

“I think that the first time around, we played a really poor first half, and we fought our tails off in the second half — very similar,” Sarkisian said, reflecting on UGA’s 30-15 win in Austin, Texas, in the 2024 regular season. “It was a 23-15 game. They went on a 90-yard drive and made it a 30-15 game, and then you’re playing catch-up in the fourth quarter.

“SEC championship game (a 22-19 UGA win), we played really well. We didn’t put the ball in the end zone. We missed some field goals. We go to overtime and lose,” Sarkisian said. “And tonight it’s 14 to 10 going into the fourth quarter. So I don’t think it’s necessarily a style of play.”

But, Sarkisian added, against “quality opponent teams, you’ve got to play all 60 minutes, and you’ve got to tie it all together from the front end to the back end.”

Sarkisian makes no bones about it, Georgia is as good as it gets in college football, in his opinion.

“They’re a great team, you know. He’s a good coach,” Sarkisian said. “They got good schemes in all three phases. They got really good players.

“To their credit, that’s why they’ve been kind of the standard of college football for the last 10 years. You know, I’ve always loved the challenge of playing them, and I’m going to love the challenge the next time we get an opportunity to play them.”

Texas will have to run the ball more effectively to improve their chances of beating the Bulldogs. In the three losses over the past two seasons, the Longhorns have rushed for 29 yards, 31 yards and, on Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, 23 yards.

“I thought we actually ran it pretty good — we just didn’t get enough opportunities,” said Sarkisian, whose team called 14 run plays that generated 39 yards, but saw Manning sacked three times for minus-16 yards.

“I felt like we were blocking them OK I felt like we were getting open. I felt like when we wanted to run it, it was effective. When we wanted to throw it, it was effective,” Sarkisian said. “But kind of stubbing our own toe was the frustrating part to me …”

Sarkisian said Georgia’s successful onside kick — which occurred after the Bulldogs had taken a 21-10 on the second play of the fourth quarter on a drive that featured two successful fourth-down conversions — was a momentum play for the Bulldogs.

“We actually practiced that kick in practice with anticipation that it might occur, and we didn’t field the ball, you know?” Sarkisian said. “It was a risk they were willing to take because it’s a 21-10 game. We field that ball, we’re getting the ball at the (Georgia) 45 and with some momentum to go score.

“They took the risk and they recovered it, and inevitably, those are momentum-changing plays for sure in games. … It was a heck of a kick and nice recovery by them.”

Sarkisian acknowledged Gunner Stockton’s execution and Mike Bobo’s play calling, Stockton finished 24-of-29 passing for 229 yards with four touchdown passes and a 4-yard touchdown run.

“Obviously, a lot of the bootleg-type plays hurt us tonight, with people leaking out the back door — whether it was the tight ends, receivers, running backs at different times” Sarkisian said.