AUSTIN, Texas—In 2021 and 2022, Georgia football lived by the slogan: ‘You’re either elite or you’re not.’
This Bulldogs team Saturday night looked it might be elite again.
It showed that a defense with NFL first-round talent in Jalon Walker, Malaki Starks and a more healthy Mykel Williams can be hard to move the ball against.
Texas discovered that in a 30-15 Bulldogs upset that knocked the No. 1 Longhorns from the ranks of the unbeatens.
Underestimate Georgia and you can look foolish.
“Nobody really gave us a chance,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team was ranked No. 4 in the coaches poll and No. 5 in the AP poll, said after his 100th career win. “Everybody doubted us.
Well, everyone on ESPN’s College GameDay picked Texas to win at the end of its show on site in Austin.
That included Nick Saban who flipped a coin to make his pick between former Alabama assistants Smart and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian.
“Our whole program was being doubted,” Smart said. “Did you watch the show this morning? I didn’t because I was in meetings but I got 8,000 texts about.”
Georgia didn’t cement a spot in the 12-team playoff before more than 105,000 including NBA star Kevin Durant, but the Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1 SEC) put themselves in a strong spot with five regular season games to go and wins over top 10 teams Texas and Clemson away from home.
The SEC has no unbeatens and a whopping six SEC teams now are 6-1 overall.
“I told our kids coming into the game it was going to be a challenge,” Smart said. “Win or lose we weren’t out of it and that’s the case now, we’re not in it. It’s one of those things we’ve got to keep getting better.”
Even if Georgia were to lose to 5-2 Ole Miss and at home to 6-1 Tennessee, ESPN’s Playoff Predictor gives Georgia an 89 percent chance to make the playoff as a 9-3 team.
Georgia won on a night it produced just 283 total yards of offense.
That’s actually 21 more yards than it got at Kentucky in a 13-12 win.
“We didn’t flinch,” Smart said. “You don’t flinch when you’ve been in these battles.”
Smart mentioned the win at Kentucky and loss at Alabama which also came at night.
Georgia didn’t look like a team about to pull the upset when Carson Beck threw two first-quarter interceptions.
Beck threw three interceptions in all and was 23 of 41 for 175 yards with no touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
He’s thrown all 8 of his interceptions in the last four games. Beck had 8 career interceptions before this season.
“A lot of resilience with our team in terms of overcoming many obstacles including some self-inflicted,” Smart said. “Our inability to catch a ball is almost comical.”
Smart came to Beck’s defense by saying Georgia had 8 or 9 drops.
Where have you gone Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey? (We know, Las Vegas and Los Angeles).
“We don’t have some of the same guys and he’s carrying that burden,” Smart said.
Georgia has an open date on its schedule next before playing Florida Nov. 2.
“Overall as an offense, I think we can just be so much better,” Beck said. “To see we can come on the road and win and not playing our best game in my opinion being able to get out here with a win is a huge thing. That’s a testament to our team.”
Georgia has won its last 52 games against teams not named Alabama. It is 1-2 against the Crimson Tide during that stretch.
Georgia was an underdog for the first time since the 2021 season opener against Clemson. The Bulldogs won that top 5 matchup, too.
The Longhorns were favored by 3 ½ at kickoff, down from 5 on Friday.
“You try not to focus on the outside noise,” said running back Trevor Etienne, who rushed for 87 yards and 3 touchdowns on 19 carries. “But you do see it.”
The millions that tuned in to see Georgia-Texas saw that the Bulldogs may not be playing quite at the level of their back-to-back national title teams in 2021 and 2022 but they are still elite enough in this wide open season to maybe, just maybe win it all again.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football made a Lone Star statement in beating No, 1 Longhorns
