The ability to make big plays on offense and rattle Carson Beck with the front seven will be differentiators.
The No. 1 Texas Longhorns are primed to face their toughest test of the season — the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs are headed to Austin coming off of a scare against the Mississippi State Bulldogs last week. Texas has been dominant through six games this year, but has yet to play a team with the talent and coaching of UGA.
That being said, this isn’t one of the dominant Bulldogs squads we’ve seen in the recent past, with some key ways the Longhorns can exploit their weaknesses. That being said, if Georgia can get Texas off-schedule in this contest, it could spiral quickly for head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team.
Explosive passing plays
Despite Georgia’s talent in the secondary, teams have found success on deep passes and explosive plays when attacking the defense. The Bulldogs give up an average of 1.57 points per successful pass play, the third-worst mark in the SEC, and are one of just 12 schools in the country to give up multiple passes of 70 yards or more. Overall, they are No. 51 in the country allowing 47 receptions of 10 yards or more, with Texas completing 68 of those passes this year.
You can look to the Bulldogs’ only loss — and worst defensive performance — for confirmation. For the Alabama Crimson Tide, quarterback Jalen Milroe averaged 11.33 yards per attempt and 15.58 yards per completion. He also did a great job spreading the ball around, completing explosive passes to eight different receivers, including the go-ahead score by Ryan Williams.
Force Carson Beck into errors
With the loss of elite tight end Brock Bowers as a safety net, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has struggled to find consistency this year. Beck has thrown five interceptions through six games this year, just one shy of his 14-game total from a year ago. His struggles to protect the football showed up big in the last three weeks, specifically against Alabama and Mississippi State.
Against Alabama, Beck threw an interception on the first play of his second series, which Alabama turned into a touchdown and a three-score deficit. Later in the game, the defense got a fourth-down stop, as they tried to climb back from a three-touchdown deficit. Beck immediately gave the ball back to Alabama on the first play and the Tide continued to roll. On Georgia’s first drive against Mississippi State, Beck threw an interception that led to a Mississippi State field goal and a 3-0 deficit. In the third quarter of that same game up 34-17, Georgia was trying to bleed clock and slow the game down. Beck threw yet another ill-timed interception and helped Mississippi State climb back into the contest.
First-down efficiency
The Longhorns have been efficient on third down and keeping drives moving for the most part this year, evidenced by the fact that the Texas punters don’t have enough attempts to be included in statistical rankings. One of the keys to that success for Texas has been their ability to pass the ball on first down. Texas is averaging 6.38 yards per attempt on first down, putting them routinely ahead of the chains.
Texas has converted 50 percent of their third downs of the year, the best mark of the decade for the school. Part of the success is that they have had 35 percent of their third downs need them to get four yards or less. On the flip side, Texas has 22 attempts longer than nine yards or more, converting just six of those attempts.
Against the No. 9 defense nationally in SP+, the Horns can’t afford to play off schedule.