Texas Longhorns' Steve Sarkisian Sees Advantage in Georgia Bulldogs Rematch

The Texas Longhorns will look to avenge their only loss of the season.

Jon Alfano | 20 Hours Ago

Nov 30, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian reacts after watching a video replay during the second quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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Texas Longhorns

The only thing separating the Texas Longhorns from a perfect regular season is a 30-15 home loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Oct. 19, a disappointing result in their biggest game of the year.

Luckily, the Longhorns now have a chance to avenge that loss when they face the Bulldogs in Saturday's SEC Championship Game. Many will pick against the Longhorns considering the previous matchup, and the fact that this game is being played in the Bulldogs' backyard in Atlanta, but this is a chance to prove that they can go head-to-head with the top dogs (pun intended) in the conference.

In a way, the Longhorns' previous defeat can serve as an advantage heading into this game. At least that's the attitude head coach Steve Sarkisian has.

"Well, I think the one thing that I've tried to lean into here today, as we're in the preliminary stages of it all, is kind of take myself back to the NFL," Sarkisian said. "You get in your division there, you play teams multiple times a year. Then over time, a couple years go by, you start playing them four times in two years. If it's the Playoffs, five times in two years.

"You try to, A, do the things that you do well. B, you try to take in the information that maybe you can gather from seeing them in person as opposed to what it looks like on tape. Then making sure that you have an idea of some of your own tendencies, that you're able to break some of those things."

Sarkisian, who previously worked as the Atlanta Falcons' offensive coordinator from 2017-2018, knows how playing the same team multiple times in one season can change the dynamic. Hell, the Bulldogs also know that well. In 2021, Kirby Smart's team lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, only to flip the script in the national championship game a month later.

That said, the burden still falls on the Longhorns to go out there and execute come game day, both players and coaches.

"At the end of the day our job is to put our players in the best position to be successful, whether that's physically, mentally, schematically, whatever that looks like. That's what we always kind of fall back to.

"Again, I do think there are some things you can take from a first matchup, good and bad. Clearly there were enough things we need to fix from the first time we played 'em. You don't get shut out in the first half, you don't have four turnovers in the game, you're not trailing 23-0, to get better from the first time we played them."