Texas vs. Georgia sets SEC playoff stage: Can Steve Sarkisian overcome Longhorns' big-game struggles?

The gamesmanship between Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian started long before kickoff ahead of Saturday's seismic SEC battle between fifth-ranked Georgia and No. 11 Texas. The Bulldogs coach texted Sarkisian over the weekend prior to his team's 41-21 romp at Mississippi State, shooting the breeze concerning the trek from Tupelo to Starkville with their nationally-ranked matchup upcoming.

"I texted with Sark today about the drive we had over here," Smart said after his team's eighth win. "I was like, this drive is an hour and five minutes. Couldn't believe it "(Texas) had the same thing. ... I have no idea what he was doing. I was just texting with him."

There's no tactical advantage gained over a travel discussion, but psychologically, Smart floating his name across Sarkisian's phone on gameday is a not-so-subtle reminder of the weekend's implications. Not it was necessary considering Sarkisian was already knee-deep in gameplan prep and his struggles in spotlight games for the Longhorns are well-documented.

Sarkisian has won 32 of his last 39 games at Texas, but is just 1-5 against top 6 opponents during that stretch, including a pair of losses to Smart and Georgia. Sarkisian gets another crack at the Bulldogs, this time between the hedges, in what could set up as a playoff elimination game of sorts for the Longhorns.

Much can happen over the season's final three weeks during a year filled with parity in the 12-team bracket discussion, but from the standpoint of controlling its own destiny in the at-large discussion en route to 10 wins, Saturday's opportunity is a must for Texas.

Texas vs. top-6 opponents under Sarkisian

This season's win over Oklahoma during Red River snapped the program's five-game losing skid against elite competition under Sarkisian. While the Longhorns have beaten several ranked teams during that stretch, including conference champions Clemson and Arizona State in last year's playoff, they've struggled to produce against the best of the best — part of the reason consecutive seasons have ended with semifinal appearances with no hardware.

Execution in late-game situations deserves much of the blame. Trailing by a touchdown near midfield at the two-minute warning during the season-opening loss at Ohio State, Arch Manning and the offense went nowhere in four plays.

Previously, Texas settled for an overtime field goal on its only possession before losing to Georgia in last season's SEC Championship Game and had red-zone malfunctions in playoff semifinal setbacks against Ohio State and Washington back-to-back years with the national title game on the horizon.

Prior to that, one-possession losses to TCU, Alabama and Oklahoma during Sarkisian's first two seasons were quite painful.

Those results are in the past and mean nothing to the players involved this weekend. And the Longhorns are taking their back-against-the-wall mentality into the matchup with the Bulldogs.

"We always want to win, we know we can't lose," Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad said over the weekend. "We know we don't have any room to lose. So we always motivated. Everybody is hungry because we don't breed losers, we breed competitors. So everybody is always looking to do something more."

Trench warfare will define the SEC's marquee contest of Week 12 given the Longhorns' strengths at the line of scrimmage. This Texas front is giving up just 78.2 yards rushing per game, which ranks No. 2 nationally and tops in the conference.

By comparison, Georgia is coming off a 303-yard effort on the ground at Mississippi State and for the first time since 2022, is hoping to end the campaign with an average of 200-plus yards per game. Nate Frazier managed 181 yards on 12 carries last time out, his first 100-yard outing of the season and second of his career.

Sarkisian's mid-week message during the open date was fine-tuning issues that have given the Longhorns problems this fall, essentially, fixing themselves before worrying about what the opposition will bring.

Sounds like a page taken from Smart's playbook, right?

"We've got to look at how people are attacking us in all three phases right now." Sarkisian said. "We've got to make sure we've got enough tools in our toolbox to combat that stuff. As much as I want to get a head start on Georgia, we've got to look at ourselves first."

Sark simplifies the offense

Sarkisian faced harsh criticisms last month following the Longhorns' ugly 16-13 win at Kentucky, and defended his decision to continue calling plays as the brains behind the Texas offense.

He tweaked some things against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, giving Manning a chance to find a rhythm early with a bunch of horizontal, quick-fire throws that were timing based and less read dependent. Texas went 11 personnel and found openings in space, highlighted by Ryan Wingo's 75-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown on the first play of the game.

Overall results have impressed offensively since the effort in Lexington — 45 points during a comeback win over the Bulldogs and a 34-point showing in the victory over the nationally-ranked Commodores.

Manning had his best game as a collegian in his last start, throwing for 328 yards and three scores during a 25-of-33 afternoon. That's consecutive 300-yard performances from the redshirt sophomore, who's now averaging 235.9 yards per game.

Given Georgia's lack of havoc stats on defense within a unit that ranks last I the SEC in sacks and tackles-for-loss this fall, perhaps the Longhorns' modified plan offensively generates success in Week 12.