SEC Championship: Georgia Bulldogs triumph over Texas Longhorns
There will be several plays that can define the Southeastern Conference championship game, but a five-yard run by senior receiver Arian Smith might be the best to do it. The run took place on a fake punt on fourth down in Georgia territory. Bulldogs head football coach Kirby Smart took a chance and it kept a fourth quarter drive alive with the score tied at 13. The drive would end with Georgia leading 16-13 following the third field goal of the game from sophomore kicker Peyton Woodring.
Texas would eventually get the ball back and be successful on a game-tying field goal following the interception of a Gunner Stockton pass. In Overtime Georgia managed to score the game-winning touchdown on a Trevor Etienne run, but that fake punt belongs in Bulldogs lore.
The Bulldogs won the game 22-19 and secured yet another shot at a national title.
The Texas Longhorns came into the Southeastern Conference championship game with an 11-1 overall record. Their only loss of the season came just over a month ago to the Georgia Bulldogs. That 30-15 loss in Austin on October 19 set the tone for Saturday afternoon inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. With the Atlanta Falcons away, The Benz was home to plenty of red and black, and burnt orange. But in the end there was a sea of RED and BLACK confetti showering the winner and SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs in front of a reported 74,916 fans.
The game was a big deal for both of the historic football programs involved. Georgia was looking to win its 15th SEC championship while Texas was looking to win its first during its inaugural season in the conference. Former Bulldogs and Longhorns stars strolled their respective sidelines during the game, including Vince Young and Colt McCoy, and Pro Football League and College Football Hall of Famer Champ Bailey and former New England Patriots standout Richard Seymour.
Georgia senior quarterback Carson Beck and Texas junior quarterback Quinn Ewers are two of the top quarterback prospects heading into the 2025 National Football League draft, but when the pair met this season neither put up impressive numbers for the scouts.
Beck threw three of his 12 interceptions during the game, two of them going to Longhorns senior defensive back Jahdae Barron, while Ewers did pass for two touchdowns, but for only 211 yards and an interception of his own. That interception was to Georgia junior defensive back Daylen Everette and early in the game on Saturday Everette intercepted Ewers again to end the first Longhorn offensive drive of the game. Ewers would redeem himself on the next Texas possession, completing passes to junior receivers Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden en route to a field goal that gave Texas a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Texas would add another field goal of 42 yards early in the second quarter to go ahead 6-0. A missed field goal by senior kicker Bert Auburn became a missed opportunity for the Longhorns.
The Bulldogs offense failed to start against the Longhorns defense with the speed it did on Oct. 19. Georgia went into halftime of that game with a 23-0 lead. Georgia scored its first points of the game on a Woodring field goal with 6:41 remaining in the first half and went into halftime down 6-3.
As they have done all season, Beck and the Georgia Bulldogs offense saved its best drive of the game for the start of the third quarter. During the first drive of the quarter Beck completed several passes including a dart to sophomore tight end Lawson Luckie. The 75-yard, 10-play drive also included a run by redshirt spohomore quarterback Gunner Stockton and a seven-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Trevor Etienne to go out in front 10-6.
A Texas drive that began at the Georgia 40 yard line and included Ewers passes to Golden and DeAndre Moore, Jr., ended with a Raylen Wilson II sack that put Texas in another fourth down field goal position. That ended in the second miss of the game for Auburn, who was 2-4 on field goals at that point of the game.
Etienne would strike again with a 49-yard run deep into Texas territory to put the Bulldogs back into scoring position. Another Woodring field goal put Georgia ahead by a touchdown at 13-6 at the end of three quarters.
The Longhorns found their way back into the end zone after a Ewers to Moore 41-yard connection to tie the game at 13 early in the fourth quarter.
