And now, 20 Final Thoughts from a college football weekend filled with wild comebacks, big-time performances and one heck of a mess to clean up off the field in Austin.
1. All the gentlemen who made picks on ESPN’s “College GameDay” set Saturday morning said No. 1 Texas would beat No. 5 Georgia that night. It was a perfectly reasonable prediction based on how both teams had looked in the weeks leading up to their showdown.
Unfortunately for them, past performance does not guarantee future results, especially when college players are involved.
2. In front of a stadium-record 105,215 fans, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1 SEC) unleashed the most havoc-wreaking defensive performance of the season in a 30-15 win. It got so bad, so fast for Texas (6-1, 2-1 SEC), trailing 20-0 in the second quarter, that Steve Sarkisian briefly benched starting quarterback Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning, only to go back to Ewers after two series. Neither had a chance, given the Horns offensive line had no answers for Georgia pass rushers Jalon Walker (three sacks, four QB hurries), Mykel Williams (two sacks) and Damon Wilson II (one strip-sack).
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This was precisely the Georgia juggernaut many envisioned when it was designated the preseason No. 1 team and again when it blitzed Clemson 34-3 in the season opener. That makes it a mystery where that team went in between. It was only three weeks ago that the Dawgs fell behind Alabama 30-7 at halftime and only a week ago that they allowed 31 points to Mississippi State. But it doesn’t matter now, does it?
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3. Had Texas come back and won, we might have had a ferocious officiating scandal. Late in the third quarter, with Georgia up 23-8, Horns cornerback Jahdae Barron picked off Carson Beck near the sideline and ran it back to the Georgia 9-yard line. Officials initially negated it with a horrendous pass-interference call, at which point Texas students began pelting the field with objects. After a five-minute delay, the officials huddled and eventually, picked up the flag, eliciting much confusion, because defensive pass interference is not reviewable by replay. But this was decided on the field, not in the booth. Ewers threw a touchdown two plays later, only for Beck and Georgia to answer immediately.
Trevor Etienne scored three rushing touchdowns to lead Carson Beck, right, and the Georgia Bulldogs past No. 1 Texas on Saturday. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)
This did not comfort Smart, who said after the game, “Now, we’ve set a precedent that (if) you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, you can get your call reversed.” To be clear: The final call was the correct one. But the SEC had better act decisively before this becomes a thing.
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4. Georgia may well turn around and lay an egg against Florida in a couple of weeks, but it can afford it. With two wins over current top-10 teams, Georgia has ample margin of error between now and the College Football Playoff. That said, Beck remains cause for concern. He threw three interceptions (two in the first quarter) and finished 23 of 41 for just 175 yards. Beck, who has thrown eight picks in his past four games, is not as comfortable as he was last season when he had ever-reliable targets Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey.
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5. That Alabama first-half explosion against Georgia on Sept. 28 now looks like an aberration for both sides. No. 11 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) salvaged its season and put No. 7 Alabama’s (5-2, 2-2 SEC) season on the brink of disaster with a 24-17 win at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee’s defense has been stellar all season, but this was its masterpiece. Tide star Jalen Milroe completed a season-low 55.6 percent of his passes, threw two interceptions and ran for just 11 yards. Meanwhile, previously struggling Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava had his signature performance to date, setting up one go-ahead touchdown with a 55-yard pass to Dont’e Thornton Jr. and throwing a 16-yard score to Chris Brazzell II after Alabama reclaimed the lead.
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And, of course, no Tennessee win would be complete without a big Dylan Sampson day. The Vols’ star running…
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