ATHENS — Texas has never played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but at least one member of the Longhorns feels like he’s somewhat familiar with the place.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Falcons for two years.
“I’ve got a pretty good feel for finding my way around that place,” the Longhorns coach said Sunday. “I’ve only ever been in the home locker room.”
It’s been a while. Sarkisian was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator from 2017-18, the first two years that Mercedes-Benz Stadium was open. At the time, the stadium was still working on the retractable roof, which has never been retracted for the SEC Championship game and won’t be Saturday.
That’s when the No. 3-ranked Longhorns (11-1) will meet No. 7-ranked Georgia (10-2) in conference title game (4 p.m., ABC). Texas will be in the home locker room, having finished atop the league standings in its first SEC season.
For UGA and its fans, The Benz is like a second home. Georgia will play on the Falcons’ home field for the 11th time in the eighth year of its existence. The Bulldogs opened this season there, defeating No. 12 Clemson 34-3 on Aug. 31.
If Georgia or Texas has its way, it will play at The Benz again this season. The College Football Playoff championship game will be conducted in the stadium on Jan. 20 (7:30 p.m.).
But first the teams have to settle which is the best team in the SEC. Because of the elimination of divisions in the newly expanded conference, no trophies are offered for anything that happened in the regular season. The SEC champion won’t be determined until Saturday’s game.
Playoff bids will go out when the final rankings are released the next day. Both teams are expected to receive one, but for Georgia nothing is guaranteed. It’s the first year of a 12-team playoff, and it will be up to the CFP selection committee to determine whether a three-loss team will qualify.
If any team should, it would be Georgia. The Bulldogs have played the toughest schedule in college football this season.
Asked whether a three-loss SEC team should be considered, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said, “tough question.”
“It boils down to who the best teams are,” Georgia’s ninth-year coach said. “I have repeatedly said, ‘I don’t know the objective of the committee.’ ... I don’t think you can measure things just based on how many losses you have because the quality of the schedule you play has to mean something.”
Either way, both teams know a victory Saturday will punch their ticket not only to the playoffs, but into a first-round bye.
For Texas, that will mean doing something it was unable to do 44 days ago: beat Georgia. The Bulldogs won 30-15 in Austin on Oct. 19, dominating in every phase of the game.
With the Longhorns then the nation’s freshly minted No. 1-ranked team, Georgia led 23-0 at halftime and withstood a Texas comeback — along with some wonky second-half officiating — in their most commanding defensive effort of the season. The Bulldogs sacked quarterback Quinn Ewers seven times, recorded 10 tackles for loss and four quarterback hurries as well as an interception and fumble recovery.
Quarterback Carson Beck had an interesting experience in the last matchup. He threw three interceptions and didn’t have a touchdown but was instrumental to helping the Bulldogs land one of the most monumental road wins in school history.
“I think the most memorable moment is when their fans started throwing stuff onto the field,” Beck said with a laugh. “That was one of the crazier moments in a game that I’ve ever experienced. But that environment was a lot of fun to play in and ultimately coming out with a win in that environment was really good for our team.”
But the Longhorns haven’t lost since. Over the last six weeks, they won their final five games by the aggregate score of 144-72.
Texas has not had to survive the gauntlet Georgia faced. The only ranked opponent the Longhorns faced in that stretch was No. 20 Texas A&M. Texas beat the Aggies 17-7 at Kyle Field in College Station.
But A&M was one of only two opponents with a winning record. The others were 4-8 Kentucky (31-14 Texas win), 6-6 Arkansas (20-10 win), 7-4 Florida without its starting quarterback (49-17) and 6-6 Vanderbilt (27-24). The Commodores were ranked No. 25 at the time they met in Nashville on Oct. 26.
Regardless, there is no question that Texas has played decidedly better since getting that comeuppance from Georgia.
“What we’ve been doing here probably over the last month or so is not getting caught up in what’s down the road, but doing what do we need to do this week to play our best football,” Sarkisian said Sunday. “Whether that’s physical, whether that’s mental, whether that’s emotional, I’m trying to analyze every aspect of it, then trying to get them in the best frame of mind and condition to do that. I’d like to think that we have still better football ahead of us, quite frankly.”
The Longhorns appear to have shored up significantly in at least one area: Running the ball. They had 240 yards on 50 carries against A&M. Running back Quintrevion Wisner led the way with 186 yards on 33 carries. Texas managed only 29 yards on 27 carries against the Bulldogs in the first meeting.
The Longhorns still have work to do in the area of pass protection. Though they have not experienced another nightmare the likes of which they dealt with against Georgia, Texas quarterbacks have been sacked 14 times for a loss of 65 yards in the five games since the last meeting in Austin.
The run game has helped mitigate that.
“We made an emphasis about a month ago that we had to improve upon it,” Sarkisian said. “Our rhythm was off. Our timing was off. We were getting penalties. The running back’s tracks weren’t married with where the offensive line was. I think the commitment to getting that cleaned up gave me more confidence to call more stuff running the football.”
As for Sarkisian, a lot has changed since those two years in Atlanta. He was fired as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator by head coach Dan Quinn on Dec. 31, 2018. Then he spent the next two seasons at Alabama as offensive coordinator.
It went well, with the Crimson Tide winning the COVID-19 season national championship. That run included a visit to the Benz, where Alabama defeated Florida 52-46.
That season helped Sarkisian land the Texas job on Jan. 2, 2021. After a slow start initially, the Longhorns have gone 36-15 since.
So far, that includes an 0-1 mark against the Bulldogs. Sarkisian hopes to improve on that Saturday.
“Clearly, this was one of our team goals,” Sarkisian said of getting to Atlanta. “It’s a heck of a challenge. What Kirby has done at Georgia over nine years now has been pretty incredible. They’ve become the standard of college football: Couple national championships; couple SEC titles. What they’ve just done on a consistency basis in recruiting, their style of play, ton of respect for what they’ve done at Georgia.”
SATURDAY’S SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
No. 3 Texas vs. No. 7 Georgia, 4 p.m., ABC, 750 AM, 95.5 FM
