Before the season began, everyone would have thought Georgia's matchup with Texas was going to be a "who can flex their muscles more" type of game. One would have thoughts that both teams are more than likely solidified in the College Football Playoff, but in reality this game actually has some serious playoff implications on the line for both teams.
For Texas, they need to win the ret of their games on their schedule just to have a chance to make it into the CFP. For Georgia, it will help their case to make the SEC championship with a tough game for Alabama against Oklahoma earlier in the day. With a win Georgia would more than likely secure themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff even if they end up not making it to the SEC Championship game.
Last year, Georgia was able to take down Texas twice, once in the regular season and then again in the SEC Championship game. This year will be a tall task again for Texas as they are going to have to give it everything they have on the road here in Athens to make sure their playoff hopes remain alive.
Keys to Georgia vs No. 10 Texas
Texas is going to heavily rely on their quarterback Arch Manning who is finally finding his stride over the last couple of weeks as he has thrown for over 300 yards and three touchdowns in each of his last two games. Over the course of the season, Texas has relied on a lot of dink and dunk type passes for short yardage hoping for their playmakers to spring a big play. Wide receivers Deandre Moore and Ryan Wingo are both burners and can make people miss tackles, so look out for these two talented receivers to make an impact in this game.
If Manning is able to sit comfortably in the pocket, Georgia could be in for a much tougher battle than anticipated, and UGA has struggled to get after the quarterback this year.
The keys for Georgia are to avoid the missed tackles on defense and get off the field on third down. If Texas is able to dink and dunk their way down the field and get an explosive play here and there, Georgia may look up at the first half scoreboard and it could be a 14-3 lead for Texas.
With that said, this will also be Gunner Stockton's toughest matchup of the year. He will need to bring what he brought with him to that Ole Miss game back in October to find success against this Texas defense. He will need to be as close to perfect in this game as he can get in order for this Georgia team to have success on offense.
Texas has what was thought to be a top three defense in the country to start the year. They aren't quite top three at this point in the season, but there are definitely one of the better defenses Stockton has seen this season.
Final prediction
Kirby Smart will have his group ready to go for this game, but a desperation spot for Texas might mean just a little more to them get a victory in a tough environment on the road. This game could be closer than some would think, somewhere around a 27-23 final with the Georgia Bulldogs pulling off yet another one possession victory.