Texas Longhorns' Third Down Woes Prove Fatal

The Texas Longhorns struggled to extend drives in their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Jalon Walker sacks Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers in the second quarter at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Saturday October 19, 2024. / Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Not much went right for the Texas Longhorns in Saturday's night's 30-15 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, more so on one side of the ball than the other.

While the defense made some big plays to create some good opportunities, the offense simply couldn't take advantage of them. The Longhorns' finished the game with just 259 total yards and four turnovers in what was easily their worst offensive showing of the season.

There's no shortage of stats that show just how bad the offense was, but perhaps the most concerning stat is that Texas converted just two of 15 third downs, both of which came in the fourth quarter. No way around it, that's not good enough to get the job done.

"I thought early on we did some decent stuff, and then we couldn't get enough positive drives to where we were converting a third down and extending it," head coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters postgame. "You finish the game, I think we were two of 15 on third down, that's not winning football. And we had some down and distances which should've been some makeable third-down opportunities. We were kind of living in third and mediums there for a little bit."

It's not like the Bulldogs were incredible on third downs, as they converted six of their 17 opportunites. In a defensive game where neither team had 300 total yards, though, that's still more than enough to make a difference.

The lack of success on third down also plays into another problem Texas has had on offense: slow starts. In the first half, the Longhorns had three separate three-and-outs, plus another drive where Quinn Ewers threw a pick on the third play. Their other first-half possessions, which resulted in two punts and two fumbles, weren't much better.

A loss to the best team in college football over the past few years isn't the end of the world, even if it was ugly. However, this game exposed some very concerning flaws for the Longhorns, and they'll need to work fast to fix them.