3 takeaways from Texas’s overtime loss to Georgia in SEC Championship Game

The SEC Championship Game didn’t deliver the offensive fireworks we thought it would. It was a sloppy, low-scoring game, and not necessarily because of defensive excellence.

But by the end of Saturday’s title game in Atlanta, which went into overtime, the Texas Longhorns’ mistakes caught up to them in a 22-19 loss.

Now Georgia earns a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, while Texas waits to see what will happen to it, though the Longhorns are still basically locks to make the Playoff field.

Can Steve Sarkisian and his staff figure things out in time for Round 1, when they might be hosting a game in Austin? We’ll see what changes are made moving forward with this team.

Here are our 3 takeaways from the Texas side of Saturday’s SEC Championship Game:

1. Bert Auburn needs to pick up his consistency

Auburn had been solid to start the season, making 8 of his first 11 field-goal attempts. But down the stretch, he has been inconsistent, to say the least.

In the 2 games prior to Saturday’s SEC title game, Auburn had gone 2-for-4 on his field-goal tries. After starting 2-of-2 on Saturday afternoon, those inconsistencies reared their ugly heads again and he missed his next 2 attempts.

Fortunately for the Longhorns, he was able to knock through a 37-yard attempt at the end of regulation to force overtime. He also knocked through a kick in OT, but it’s hard not to think of how different the game would have been if he didn’t go 2-for-4 through the first part of the game.

He still hasn’t missed an extra point this year, which is good, but heading into the Playoff isn’t when you want to be figuring out your kicking stroke.

2. Matthew Golden is a star in the making

Golden had more than 100 receiving yards in the first half alone. Catches like these (even with Kirby Smart attempting to play defense) are becoming more common for the junior who started his career at Houston:

https://twitter.com/SatDownSouth/status/1865515866864923019

Texas didn’t dial his number as much in the second half, but he still finished the game with an incredible 162 receiving yards. He should get even more targets moving forward into the Playoff.

3. This Texas defense is legit

The Longhorns’ offense and special teams might have struggled for most of the night, but the defense was up to the task. The Longhorns out-gained the Bulldogs 170-9 in the first quarter as the defense stifled Georgia at every turn.

The defense delivered big hit after big hit to Beck, eventually knocking him out of the game. The defense forced a few fumbles, though the Longhorns were only able to recover one. The defense did snag, however, a key interception against backup QB Gunner Stockton.

This defense is going to keep Texas in any game. It’s just going to come down to whether Ewers and the offense can put enough points on the board in the Playoff to actually win the game. The offense couldn’t get the job done in OT today, but we’ll see what the Playoff holds.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.