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O’Gara: Thankfully, the first Georgia-Texas matchup since Sam Ehlinger’s “we’re baaaaaack” declaration is totally different

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

It’s the single most cringeworthy moment of the Playoff era.

It only lasted 5 seconds, but it was roughly 4.5 seconds too long. And honestly, the words should’ve never been said for public consumption by anyone in burnt orange who had a microphone to speak into that New Year’s Day evening in New Orleans in 2019.

“Longhorn Nation … we’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.”

There’s secondhand embarrassment, and then there’s whatever that was. On a night in which Bevo charged an innocent beloved bulldog that was roughly 1/100 his size, somehow, Sam Ehlinger ensured that wasn’t the most embarrassing thing Texas did in the Sugar Bowl.

Having the quarterback at a place like Texas — a program with actual national championships and not just the claimed ones that some sports information direction added to the media guide — declare it was baaaaaaaaaaaaaack after a 4-loss season will live in college football infamy. It’s cringe. Why did Ehlinger have to hold the vowel sound for so long? It felt like when someone makes a funny comment, but then 2 seconds later, it’s ruined by the worst laugh you’ve ever heard. You go from “hey, we’re all laughing” to “for the love of everything, please stop laughing.”

College football fans went from “hey, we’re all giving Texas credit for finally winning a game of significance” to “for the love of everything, please get off that stage.”

Texas, despite its bravado at the end of that 4-loss season, was not ready to stay on that stage. Nearly 6 years later, it’s absolutely ready to be on that stage when it sees Georgia for the first time since Ehlinger held the vowel like it was going out of style. The Longhorns are favored in a top-5 matchup that, despite what the anti-12-team Playoff crowd would suggest, has massive implications.

And if the Longhorns do indeed continue this dominant start as the nation’s No. 1 team by beating No. 5 Georgia, the last thing I’d expect to hear out of the mouth of Steve Sarkisian/Quinn Ewers/Bevo is “we’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.”

In Ehlinger’s defense, he couldn’t have known that Tom Herman would only have that job for another 2 seasons and that it would be up to Sarkisian to clean up the culture mess he left from a program that did things like … self-declare it was back after a 4-loss season. Meanwhile, UGA was the team that went on to win a pair of national titles and establish itself as the team of the 2020s.

Also in Ehlinger’s defense, he at least made that infamous declaration after Texas hit 10 wins. That was different than the original comment that he harked back to. If you rolled your eyes at Ehlinger’s declaration, you probably cackled uncontrollably after hearing Joe Tessitore’s call of the 2016 season opener wherein the unranked Longhorns beat No. 10 Notre Dame in double overtime.

“Texas is back, folks!”

Spoiler alert: No it wasn’t.

Of note, Texas went on to win 5 games that year while Notre Dame was somehow even worse at 4-8. A sweeping declaration on Labor Day weekend usually isn’t the best idea in this sport, but hey, Tessitore was just living in the vibe. So was Ehlinger, who clearly felt like his team took the next step by beating the defending national runner-up that night in the Sugar Bowl.

(Now is the part where you expect me to say that Georgia didn’t care about that game because it was dejected after losing the SEC Championship to Alabama in gut-wrenching fashion. Nope. Now is the part where I tell you that I actually watched the end of the “Texas is back, folks” game at my college bar surrounded by friends and family after my wife and I got married a few hours earlier. We didn’t have the sound on the TVs, but I can only assume that if we did, we would’ve cackled in between inexplicably ripping shots of Fireball.)

Therein lies the irony and the problem with the “Texas is back” discussions. Being back is a vibe that shouldn’t need to be said. You should be able to see it with your own eyeballs and not have it shouted at you by someone who’s trying to make a bold statement. If you’re back, you don’t need people to say you’re back. They should feel it. They should get that sense every time you step on the field.

Since the start of 2023, Texas has checked that box in ways that 4-loss Longhorn teams could’ve only dreamed of. This current 2023-24 stretch consisted of as many true road wins vs. AP Top 10 teams as total losses (2).

Speaking of true road wins vs. AP Top 10 teams, you know what Kirby Smart has yet to do in his 8+ seasons at Georgia? Win one of those games. Here’s his track record in that department:

  • 2017 — L, 40-17 at No. 10 Auburn
  • 2020 — L, 41-24 at No. 2 Alabama
  • 2024 — L, 41-34 at No. 4 Alabama
  • 2024 — at No. 1 Texas, TBD

Not only is Smart trying to get his first such victory, but he’s trying to do so in Austin, where the home team hasn’t lost since 2022 national runner-up TCU grinded out a 17-10 victory on Nov. 12, 2022. That’s an 11-game home winning streak.

When Ehlinger was living in the vibe, he did so a couple of months removed from Texas clinching its longest home winning streak of the 2010s … 4 games. To be fair, that illustrious 4-game home winning streak came after the Longhorns puked on their shoes with another season-opening, not-so-back loss to Maryland in the 2018 season-opener. Texas was supposed to be out of the woods and back to reclaiming its place as a traditional power, according to Ehlinger and any social media account that weighed in after a non-cupcake Longhorns win.

If it can be mocked in the moment, that’s probably not a good sign. You know what can’t be mocked in this moment? Texas.

It’s not just the No. 1 ranking that stands out, or the fact that in their 2 games against AP Top 25 teams, they won by a combined 65-15. Look at how bulletproof the Longhorns have been through 6 games:

  • No. 1 in FBS in scoring defense
  • No. 1 in FBS in yards/play allowed
  • No. 1 in FBS in yards/game allowed
  • No. 1 in FBS in yards/pass allowed
  • No. 1 in FBS in TD passes allowed
  • No. 1 in FBS in opposing 10-yard scrimmage plays
  • No. 1 in FBS in opposing 20-yard scrimmage plays
  • T-No. 1 in FBS in opposing 30-yard scrimmage plays
  • No. 2 in FBS in opposing QB rating allowed
  • No. 2 in FBS in opposing red-zone scoring percentage
  • No. 4 in FBS in rushing TDs allowed
  • No. 7 in FBS in opposing 3rd down conversion percentage

What if I told you that all of those were just defensive stats and that Texas has the No. 7 scoring offense in FBS even though it already endured a multi-week injury to Ewers? Would it impress you to know that Texas is No. 3 in FBS in 20-yard scrimmage plays with a mostly new group of pass-catchers and contributing running backs? Or what if I pointed out that Texas is No. 9 in FBS in red-zone touchdown percentage even though it lost running backs CJ Baxter and Christian Clark to season-ending injuries in fall camp?

You’d probably say something to the effect of, “alright, alright, alright.”

(I’m sorry, but I showed tremendous restraint to wait 1,100 words into this column until I offered up a Matthew McConaughey reference.)

This is how you build a program. What Sarkisian has done through 3 1/2 seasons is nothing short of remarkable. It doesn’t guarantee that it’ll always be this good, but it sure as heck beats the alternative. The alternative is that instead of talking about those gaudy numbers related to what Texas has done on the field, we’re discussing Sarkisian’s buyout numbers to get him off the field before he reaches Year 5. That’s been the natural cycle at Texas in the post-Mack Brown era. Sarkisian hasn’t just broken that mold; he created a new mold for Texas football.

That’s not to say this version of Texas will be even better than the 2000s. The Longhorns know as well as anyone that you can be the gold standard in the sport and still see that championship windows are small. Sometimes, they’re open while one of the great college football dynasties is both at the peak of their powers but mortal if they run into a generational quarterback who was built for big-time moments. Other times, those windows are open while one of the great college football dynasties is still forming, but they slam shut when your starting quarterback goes down in the national championship.

We don’t know how open this championship window is for Texas. All we know is that right now, the bold declaration is to suggest that Texas isn’t among the teams with that championship window open.

Time will tell if the Longhorns will get back on that stage. Saturday against Georgia will have a significant say in that. It’s ironic that the stage where Ehlinger held the vowel is the same stage that Texas came 1 play away from standing on in last year’s Playoff semifinal. It would’ve been fitting to make that happen on the 5th anniversary. Or, then again, maybe it set the stage for this year’s squad to truly move beyond that era of Texas football.

Ehlinger has since said that while he doesn’t “regret” declaring that Texas was back that night, he probably wouldn’t do it again. We all make mistakes, though one might forget that watching this version of Texas. Nobody should be surprised if that continues on Saturday night.

Now, there’s a declaration that can’t be mocked.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.

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