The Good, Bad and Ugly of Texas Longhorns' Loss to Georgia Bulldogs

The Texas Longhorns suffered a blowout defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday night, falling 35-10 in Sanford Stadium.

With the loss, the Longhorns are now out of Southeastern Conference Championship contention and look likely to miss out on the College Football Playoff, also considering Oklahoma's upset win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa earlier.

As the Longhorns drop to 7-3 (4-2 in the SEC), here is the good, bad and ugly of Texas' performance in Athens.

Good

Nov 15, 2025; Athens, Georgia, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) looks to make a pass in the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Defensive stoutness in middle quarters

Early in the second quarter, things didn't look good for the Longhorns after Georgia stormed down the field to push its lead to 14-3. But for much of the next 30 minutes of play, Texas' defensive unit held sturdily.

Over the rest of the second quarter, the Longhorns held Bulldogs quarterback Gunner Stockton and company to three consecutive punts and only 52 total yards. They began the third quarter by forcing a Georgia three-and-out, then earning a Stockton interception through linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. that led to Texas' sole touchdown of the contest, narrowing the deficit to just four.

But the fourth quarter was a different story. The Bulldogs returned their foot to the pedal and scored three touchdowns to put the game way out of Texas' reach.

Arch Manning

Despite the Longhorns putting just 10 points on the board, Manning stood in the pocket strong -- there's no doubt about that. Manning accumulated 251 passing yards on a 63 percent completion percentage, continuing to sling it across the field in the face of drops and penalties that cost Texas yardage.

He had some overthrows, including the interception, but he did an impressive job of finding windows and giving his pass-catchers chances to make plays, including to Emmett Mosley V on a 40-yard catch-and-run and on Ryan Wingo's seven-yard touchdown.

While Texas struggled to find any consistency in the run game, totaling just 23 yards on the ground, Manning's arm gave the Longhorns signs of life at moments. In the first and third quarters, Manning threw just two incompletions on 16 attempts. Across the game, he had three streaks of four or more straight completions, one to start the game and another a span of seven straight in the third quarter.

Texas' Manning-led offense could not keep up with the scoring of Stockton's Bulldogs, but still, there are certainly aspects to the quarterback's showing to like.

Bad

Nov 15, 2025; Athens, Georgia, USA; Georgia Bulldogs defensive back Demello Jones (15) tackles Texas Longhorns wide receiver Ryan Wingo (1) in the first half at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Costly drops

Texas' drops, especially early in the game, proved damaging. Wingo's drops on third-and-eight in the Longhorns' opening drive and on the deep shot early in the second quarter kept potential, much-needed points off the board.

Those were not the only examples -- Jordan Washington and DeAndre Moore Jr.'s drops on consecutive plays directly following Wingo's long incompletion stalled Texas' progress after going down two scores in Athens.

A receiving corps that has so much explosiveness failed to utilize it on many occasions because of the inability to secure catches.

Costly penalties

A theme that has haunted the Longhorns throughout the season reoccured in Athens.

The penalty margin speaks for itself. Texas was flagged nine times for 58 yards compared to Georgia's one-for-15. And these flags came in all kinds of circumstances.

A 59-yard Ryan Niblett kick return was called back for a holding call, Texas instead starting the drive at its own nine-yard line. Holding and false starts offensively took away manageable yardage situations and ignited the Sanford Stadium crowd. An offside call on edge Colin Simmons on a fourth-and-five gave Georgia an automatic first down that it converted into a touchdown only three plays later.

The penalties came from all three phases of the game, and the Longhorns showed themselves to be the less disciplined of the sides on Saturday night. Looking to pull out a massive road win against a top-five opponent, Texas holding itself back through flags was not a good trait to possess.

Costly inefficiency on late downs

On its first drive of the game, Texas only had one third down, which it failed to convert due to the Wingo drop. That led to a Mason Shipley field goal instead of the chance to add seven early points to the scoreboard. It was the first of multiple crucial missed opportunities by the Longhorns.

Over the first half, Texas went 0-6 on third down. Overall, the Longhorns had just two third-down conversions in 12 attempts, failing to extend drives and letting Georgia possess the ball for over 10 minutes more than them.

Texas just couldn't seem to seize the moment when it needed to most, while Georgia was able to and capitalized to ultimately run away with the ballgame.

Ugly

Nov 15, 2025; Athens, Georgia, USA; Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart looks on during the first half against the Texas Longhorns at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Getting outsmarted coaching-wise

Texas down four entering the fourth quarter, no one could have anticipated the chain of events that quickly happened -- all of which went the Bulldogs' way and stemmed from Georgia's coaching staff -- to put Georgia ahead by 18 points in a matter of minutes.

Georgia lined up on a second-and-three from the Texas' 30-yard line with 14:20 remaining. Tight end Oscar Delp went in motion pre-snap on the right side of the line of scrimmage. Now on the inside of wide receiver London Humphreys, Delp's movement seemed to cause confusion in the Texas secondary, as a miscommunication between defensive backs Michael Taaffe and Jaylon Guilbeau left Humphreys wide open for an easy touchdown. Up 11, the Bulldogs had put themselves in a comfortable position.

But that was not the end of it -- an onside kick? Yes.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his staff went deep into their bag of trickery as kicker Peyton Woodring dribbled the football to his right on what originally seemed to be a normal kickoff. Cash Jones recovered it, and the Bulldogs sent their offense and the Texas defense right back onto the field in plus territory. Nine plays later, seven of which were run plays, Georgia had a three-score lead.

That six-yard touchdown to tight end Lawson Luckie came on a Stockton run-pass option design that the Longhorns overcommitted on to leave the pass-catcher all alone. It was a game-changing display of coaching by the Bulldogs.

It was also not the first time Georgia chose to play bold. Late in the third quarter, on the drive that culminated in Humphreys' score, Smart kept his offense on the field twice on fourth down. On fourth-and-one at its own 36, Stockton found running back Chauncey Bowens open for a 10-yard gain. On fourth-and-five plays later, Stockton got Simmons to jump offside to convert.

The Bulldogs outsmarted the Longhorns down the stretch to emerge victorious, and cozily in that, on Saturday night.