Texas defense backing up claim as nation's best heading into SEC title game against Georgia

Updated Dec. 2, 2024 5:26 p.m. ET

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas defensive tackle Alfred Collins surveyed the wreckage left by the No. 2 Longhorns' total domination of Texas A&M.

Then he summed up the message he believes it sent to the rest of college football about the Texas defense.

“We're the best in the nation,” Collins said.

It's hard to argue with the evidence the No. 2 Longhorns (11-1, 7-1, No. 3 CFP) have produced week after week in earning a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday against No. 6 Georgia (10-2, 6-2 No. 7 CFP). The winner also earns a first-round bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Texas opened the season with a shutout. Three more times the Longhorns did not surrender an offensive touchdown. The defense has surrendered a total of 17 points over the last three games. The Longhorns rank No. 3 nationally in total defense, No. 2 in scoring defense, No. 1 in passing yards allowed and No. 3 in total interceptions while allowing just six passing touchdowns.

Against Texas A&M, in the first game in the rivalry since 2011, Texas allowed just 248 total yards and made two critical touchdown-saving stands, one early and one late, that sealed a 17-7 victory. On the second one, Texas stuffed the Aggies on fourth-and-goal from the Texas 1 with less than five minutes left.

“We feel like nobody’s getting in the end zone with us,” Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said after the game. “If you think you’re going to just run right at us for 1 yard, I feel like you’ve lost your mind. I feel like that’s not going to happen.”

Most notable against A&M was how the defense turned momentum and rescued a sputtering offense after the Aggies had scored their only touchdown on an interception return, and then blocked a punt. Backed inside their 5, the Texas defensive line mauled the Aggies and stuffed four consecutive run plays.

“It’s just like a common theme at this point,” Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers said after the game, “they continue to save our butts on offense.”

The game against Georgia is a rematch of the Bulldogs' 30-15 win on Oct. 19. Texas will be playing in the title game in its first year in the league. The Bulldogs are in the championship game for the fourth consecutive year and for the seventh time since 2018.

The Bulldogs' 30 points was the most the Longhorns allowed all season. But even then, the Texas defense mostly excelled, holding Georgia under 300 total yards and intercepting three passes by Georgia quarterback Carson Beck.

Georgia ran out to a 23-0 lead after two Texas turnovers set up the Bulldogs with short drives for a pair of touchdowns.

Arguably the only time the Texas defense truly broke this season was a second half touchdown drive by the Bulldogs that put the game out of reach. The Longhorns had pulled within 23-15 when Georgia marched 89 yards in 11 plays for Trevor Etienne's fourth-down 1-yard TD run.

"Georgia had a bunch of short fields and took advantage of those," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.

If anything, the Texas defense has gotten better since then. And Georgia coach Kirby Smart won't count on Texas being starstruck playing in the SEC title game.

“I think defensively they’ve been at a high level the entire year," Smart said.

“I’m just saying that the previous matchup does not determine this matchup,” Smart said. “You can’t overstate that to your players because the flow of that game was different in the first three, four, five drives. And then, you know, after a turnover it went the other way a little bit.”

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