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    Jeff Howe
    Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was downgraded to doubtful for Saturday’s home game against Arkansas (2:30 p.m., ABC) on Friday’s SEC student-athlete availability report.
    The good news for the Longhorns is that wide receiver Ryan Wingo, who has been dealing with a thumb injury he sustained in the team’s 34-31 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 1, was off the report. He was listed as probable on Wednesday and Thursday.
    The bad news, however, is that Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) could have to face an explosive Razorback offense without one of the top defensive players in the country if Hill can’t go. Steve Sarkisian said on Thursday that Hill had been limited in practice after suffering a hand injury in last Saturday's 35-10 road loss to Georgia.
    "We're kind of taking this day-by-day with him to see kinda how he feels towards the end of the week," Sarkisian said. "The beauty of it for Ant — he's played so much football for us that you can get a lot of reps done throughout a walkthrough to see if he's healthy enough to go. The walkthrough reps, I think, can carry over into a ballgame."
    Jeff Howe
    It’s been a tough second half of the season for the Texas secondary. What has perhaps been most disappointing regarding Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense on the back end is the number of explosive plays the Longhorns have allowed through the air over their last three games.
    In wins over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, along with last Saturday’s loss to Georgia, No. 17 Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) has surrendered 28 completions of 15 or more yards, five of which have gone for more than 30 yards. The Longhorns only allowed 27 explosive pass completions through the first six games of the season, with the number of 30-plus-yard pass plays by their last three opponents matching the output of their first six.
    “We have got to get that number back down,” Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “Explosive passes don't always occur when they throw it over your head. Now, we've got a couple of those, but to me, it's more about our ability to get people on the ground when they get completions. When you start talking about playing in space, you start talking about leveraging [the football] when you're tackling, when you start talking about populating the ball, when you start talking about using proper angles when you have a second tackler to force the cutback or using the sidelines, those are things that we've got to improve upon.”
    It will be easier said than done to clean things up against an Arkansas offense that enters Saturday’s game (2:30 p.m., ABC) with the fourth-most pass completions of 20 or more yards (42) and 30-plus yards (19) in the SEC. Still, a defense that’s tied for the fewest pass breakups (17) in the SEC during conference play must be around the football more often to maximize the impact of a pass rush that’s one of the best in the country.
    Texas averages 3.6 sacks per game, which is No. 3 nationally. The Longhorns boast Pro Football Focus’ fourth-highest-graded FBS pass rush and, according to CollegeFootballData.com, are No. 9 in the country in front-seven havoc rate (a per-snap percentage of a defense’s tackles for loss, sacks, pass breakups, interceptions and forced fumbles recorded by front-seven defenders).
    Whatever was tweaked behind the scenes heading into the penultimate game of the regular season must result in better synergy between the pressure and coverage elements of the Texas defense for the Longhorns to keep one of the nation’s most explosive offenses from running up and down the field.
    ***
    Especially if Anthony Hill Jr.'s hand injury limits him or forces him to miss the game with the Razorbacks, the conundrum Kwiatkowski faces is not having the luxury of utilizing additional resources to defend the Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) passing game.
    While Bobby Petrino’s offense is sixth in the country in rushing yards per attempt (5.89) and 19th in rushing yards per game (205.4), the metric that shows where Texas will be challenged is line yards per carry, which calculates the amount of rushing yardage attributed to the offensive line using weighted percentages. The Razorbacks lead the SEC and rank sixth in the FBS with an average of 3.468 line yards per carry, meaning the Longhorns can’t count on defending the run with a light box against one of the nation’s most efficient and impactful run-blocking offensive lines.
    ***
    Furthermore, Hill’s availability could significantly impact how Texas defends Taylen Green.
    Green’s season-long PFF grade as a runner is 92.3, the highest among FBS quarterbacks, a category in which he ranks fourth in rushing yards gained (911) and sixth in yards after contact (473). Green is tied for 12th among FBS quarterbacks in missed tackles forced (26) while leading the country in gains from scrimmage of 10 or more yards (38) and ranking second in yards gained on scrambles (431).
    Green’s yardage gained is split almost evenly between scrambles and designed runs (480 yards, which ranks 11th among FBS quarterbacks). Petrino incorporated a slew of quarterback runs within a traditional pro-style offense when he coached Lamar Jackson to a Heisman Trophy-winning season at Louisville in 2016, something he continues to do.
    “He's doing the same thing with Green,” Sarkisian said on Thursday. “You talk about a coach's versatility and [being] willing to evolve, I give him a ton of credit on that because he was not stuck in his ways.
    “He forces you to defend a lot of different things.”
    Jeff Howe
    Before he addressed his football team’s upcoming home game against Arkansas, Steve Sarkisian addressed his coaching future at the University of Texas.
    Less than a month after Diana Russini of "The Athletic" reported that Sarkisian’s camp had expressed interest on his behalf in potential NFL head coaching openings, ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard said in a video posted on social media that Sarkisian and the Longhorns could be headed toward a mutual parting of ways.
    The following is Sarkisian’s statement on the rumors surrounding his job, in its entirety:
    “I’d like to comment on something before I get into our team, something that has been bothering me now over the past few weeks, and that is people reporting that — or insinuating that — there’s a possibility I could leave the University of Texas. And that is absolutely false and untrue. I’m not going anywhere. Never do I do this because I never want to be a distraction, so I never address these things. But, at the point now, I feel like that it’s important that I do do this because it’s important for our team, it’s important for our university. I’ve had no discussions — not with my agent, not with the university, not with any other school, not with any NFL team — about ever going anywhere else. I came here to win championships. I’ve got two kids enrolled at the University of Texas, one in law school and one on our team. I’ve got a third that, hopefully, decides to enroll at the University of Texas next fall, and my wife and I just had our son here in Austin. This is our home. We came here to win championships. We’ve built a damn-good football program over the five years we’ve been here. We’ve been to two College Football Playoffs, we won a Big 12 championship, we went to the SEC Championship Game in Year 1, we’ve had 23 players drafted the last two years, which is more than any other school in the country and our team GPA is at an all-time high. So, can we please stop putting things out there that you have absolutely zero evidence on? And then, can we please stop retweeting, putting it back out there as if it’s true, as if it’s the gospel? It is not true. If you have a question about my future, call me or call Chris Del Conte — our athletic director — and we can set the record straight for you ... [inaudible comment] so, moving forward, when some Joe Blow decides to put something on social media out there, we all don’t run with it like it’s the gospel. Can we all agree on that on this call? And, if you have a question about my future with the University of Texas, ask me on one of these calls, ask Chris Del Conte — he’ll be more than happy to take your call — so that we can set the record straight, so that we can focus on our football team, which is really what we should be doing. Everybody good with that?”
    Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC), which came in at No. 17 by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee in Tuesday’s rankings reveal, will look to rebound from a 35-10 road loss to Georgia when the Razorbacks visit Austin for the first time since 2008.
    The Longhorns and Arkansas (2-8, 0-6) will kick off at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
    Jeff Howe
    Texas was positioned to get the ball back with under four minutes to go in the third quarter of Saturday’s 35-10 loss to Georgia.
    The Bulldogs lined up for a fourth-and-1 from their own 36. With the Longhorns poised to seize momentum, the championship pedigree of Kirby Smart’s program took it back and held onto it en route to a third win over Steve Sarkisian’s club in 13 months.
    Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) cut the Georgia (9-1, 7-1) lead to four points when Arch Manning found Ryan Wingo in the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown with 5:27 left in the third quarter. After Gunner Stockton and Chauncey Bowens connected for a 10-yard gain for the first of two fourth-down conversions on a 10-play, 73-yard touchdown drive, a surprise onside kick recovery and a 9-play, 53-yard march to another Bulldog touchdown, Manning and the offense faced a 28-10 deficit when it got back on the field at the 8:49 mark of the fourth quarter.
    Whether it was losing the line of scrimmage battle, a failure to execute in critical situations, dealing with one self-inflicted wound after another or Smart’s staff winning the chess match against Sarkisian and his assistant coaches, Georgia was better than Texas, across the board, for the third time in as many meetings as SEC foes.
    For the Longhorns to ascend to the next level as a program, they’ve got to get through the Bulldogs. With Georgia off the regular-season schedule until 2028, the only way Texas will get another crack at the Bulldogs over the next two years is if it reaches the SEC Championship Game.
    As the fourth quarter unfolded, one in which Texas was outscored (21-0), outgained (119-64) and outclassed, the preseason promise of the Longhorns competing for the SEC title and a national championship faded with every body blow the Bulldogs landed. As things stand, Texas won’t be back in Atlanta and, unless it benefits from a lot of unforeseen good fortune down the stretch, it won’t make a third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff.
    ***
    One of the reasons why Georgia is a bad matchup for Texas is the athleticism and length the Bulldogs possess up front. Once again, the Bulldogs won the battle at the point of attack in a landslide.
    Georgia sacked Manning three times, recorded seven tackles for loss and held the Longhorns to just 23 net rushing yards on 17 carries. Even when adjusting rushing yards to exclude sack yardage, 39 yards (2.8 yards per carry) wasn’t close to what Texas needed to achieve much-needed balance on offense.
    In their three losses to the Bulldogs over the last two seasons, the Longhorns have given up 16 sacks and 32 tackles for loss while mustering just 83 net rushing yards on 72 official attempts (1.15 yards per attempt). Georgia rushed for 128 yards (3.7 yards per attempt), 67 of which came in the fourth quarter, as the Bulldogs once again owned the line of scrimmage.
    ***
    The chatter regarding Sarkisian’s struggles against Smart won’t die down. In fact, after Smart pushed all of the right buttons in the second half while Sarkisian’s offense sputtered and the Texas defense wore down, it’ll be louder than ever.
    Sarkisian has done a lot of good in his five seasons on the Forty Acres. Nevertheless, his head-to-head win over Nick Saban in 2023 is starting to be overshadowed by Sarkisian’s combined 0-7 record against Smart (0-3), Kalen DeBoer (0-2) and Ryan Day (0-2), which account for his seven losses against top-five opponents while leading the Longhorns (1-7 record).
    Sarkisian’s success over the last two seasons has raised the bar to a championship standard. With that as the backdrop, Saturday’s loss adds even more importance to the regular-season finale against a Texas A&M team expected to roll into DKR with an unblemished 11-0 record.
    If Sarkisian’s Texas squad goes 0-3 against top-five opponents in 2025 while the Aggies and Oklahoma advance to the CFP (a realistic outcome after the Sooners’ 23-21 road win over Alabama on Saturday), it’ll be a long offseason with a lot of tough questions to answer throughout 2026.
    ***
    For the third consecutive meeting between the Longhorns and Georgia, the Bulldogs’ best players outpaced Texas’ top dogs.
    Manning wasn’t bad (27-for-43, 251 yards, one touchdown and one interception), but Stockton was better (24-for-29, 229 yards, four touchdowns, one interception and a rushing touchdown). Although Anthony Hill (six tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and an interception) and Colin Simmons (three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack) made plays, they didn’t dominate the game the way they needed to for the Longhorns to win.
    ***
    The final score isn’t a direct reflection of how far Texas is from reaching Georgia’s level as a program. Still, until the Longhorns can hold up better in the trenches, avoid shooting themselves in the foot (nine penalties for 58 yards) and play better situational football (a combined 4-for-15 on third and fourth down; the Bulldogs also went 4-for-4 in the red zone with four touchdowns), they’ll likely continue to suffer the same fate in games of this magnitude.
    Jeff Howe
    When No. 11 Texas faces fifth-ranked Georgia in Athens next Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC), it will do so on the heels of the Bulldogs’ most complete performance of the season.
    Kirby Smart’s team rolled up a season-high 567 yards of total offense in Saturday’s 41-21 dispatching of Mississippi State. Georgia (8-1, 6-1 SEC) ran for 303 yards and averaged 7.7 yards per play on an afternoon in which Gunnar Stockton (18-for-29 passing for 264 yards and three touchdowns) led five consecutive touchdown drives after a first-quarter fumble in the red zone.
    A defense entered Saturday’s game with a Power Four-low eight sacks recorded through eight games. After allowing a 14-play, 75-yard drive to open the game, the Bulldogs forced two three-and-outs, four total punts, a fumble and a turnover on downs to help Georgia build a 38-7 lead by the 9:58 mark of the third quarter.
    The Longhorns won four consecutive SEC games after losing to Florida. Texas (7-2, 4-1) has earned the opportunity to position itself as a threat to get back to the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff if it can hand the Bulldogs their second conference loss.
    With Georgia’s trip to Starkville out of the way, the countdown to the third meeting between the Longhorns and the Bulldogs in 392 days is officially underway.
    — Along with a healthy running back room (Nate Frazier’s 59-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter highlighted a 12-carry, 181-yard performance against Mississippi State), Georgia’s offensive line looks just as good, if not better than the group Stacy Searles put on the field last season.
    Texas will come into the game with arguably the best run defense in the country. It should be a hellacious trench battle next Saturday.
    — The tight end position is a significant piece in Mike Bobo’s offense, which is why Lawson Luckie’s departure after he was leveled on a hit that led to safety Jahron Manning’s ejection for targeting is a significant development.
    Smart said after the game that Luckie wanted to get back on the field after he was ruled out, providing hope of a positive prognosis. Regardless, Luckie’s availability is one of the early health-related storylines to monitor, along with the status of Ryan Wingo (thumb) and Jelani McDonald (concussion protocol), both of whom suffered injuries in the Longhorns' 34-31 win over Vanderbilt.
    — Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas both hauled in touchdowns from Stockton on Saturday. The Bulldogs have upgraded at wide receiver since the last time Texas saw Georgia, with the transfer wideouts responsible for two of Stockton’s completions against Mississippi State that were explosive in nature (gained 15 or more yards), including Thomas’ 64-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
    — The toughest task the Longhorns have in front of them is figuring out how to run the football with some level of consistency against a defense that came into the weekend as a top-15 unit against the run (94.1 yards per game and 3.01 yards per attempt allowed). Even though Texas is last in the SEC in rushing yards per game in conference play (84.1), Quintrevion Wisner has a track record of getting the job done in big games.
    Wisner’s most productive games this season have come against Ohio State (80 yards on 16 carries), Oklahoma (22 carries for 94 yards and five receptions for 35 yards) and Vanderbilt (75 yards on 18 carries and 28 yards on two catches), the seventh, eighth and 17th-ranked FBS run defenses heading into the weekend. With Wisner running behind an offensive line that might've found its best combination with Cole Hutson at left guard and Connor Robertson at center, the Longhorns have at least a puncher’s chance to move the ball on the ground.
    — Georgia is elite in the kicking game.
    While turnovers doomed Texas in the first meeting with Georgia last season, Brett Thorson’s ability to flip the field and help the Bulldogs dominate field position was a significant factor in the Longhorns’ struggles. Texas is much improved on special teams from last season, but it needs its best game of the season to match or top Georgia's kicking game, which might be the best in the country.
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