SEC Championship Preview

In their first year being part of the SEC, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns will travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia to take on a football team who are seasoned veterans in SEC Championship Games, the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs.

The last time these two teams met was this season. No. 5 Georgia, at the time too, had their way with No. 1 Texas, doubling their score, 30-15.

Halfway through the season is when they met last, but they are very different teams since then.

First, despite their win over Texas earlier in the season, in that game, Georgia’s quarterback Carson Beck struggled mightily. He threw for only 175 yards and threw three interceptions.

Recently, in the past three games combined, Beck has thrown for well over 900 yards. Who was that against, though?

The last game was against Georgia Tech, the previous was Massachusetts, but then the previous to that was against No. 7 Tennessee, where he threw for 347 yards against a formidable Tennessee defense.

In the Georgia Tech game, the Dawgs tip-toed away from a huge upset, beating the Yellow Jackets in eight overtimes by a score of 44-42.

Georgia was down at the half, 17-0, but showed some prowess in the second half and in overtime. The Dawgs showed less than stellar run defense as they allowed the Yellow Jackets’ QB to step all over them as he ran his way to 110 rushing yards. Despite their defense, the Dawgs showed they can make clutch plays when they need them.

Texas QB Quinn Ewers was a favorite to win the Heisman to start the season. He missed two and a half games this season with an oblique strain, which foiled his plans.

At least one player on the Longhorns benefitted from Ewers’ absence. Freshman QB Arch Manning, nephew of former NFL QB stars Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, dazzled in the games without Ewers.

Yes, the games that Manning started over Ewers were against less than stellar defenses in UL Monroe and Mississippi St., but he still put up huge numbers that you’d expect from a seasoned veteran, and he’s only a freshman. The saying is, “the best part about freshmen is that they become sophomores,” so Texas is set at the QB position for at least the next two years, of course barring a transfer.

Manning is a QB with a lot of speed. Ewers is a QB that is more of a pocket passer.

An analogy to that is Manning is to Penn State QB Beau Pribula as Ewers is to Penn State QB Drew Allar, in the sense that their skill-sets complement each other’s.

If the Longhorns can use their QB’s contrast of skills to catch Georgia's defense off-guard, they can put the puppies to sleep.

There will be a new champion of the SEC after the game on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ABC. Will the Longhorns avenge their midseason loss to Georgia and get their first SEC championship in their first year of being a part of the powerhouse college football conference, or will the Bulldogs be crowned champions of the conference for the fifth time in their history?

Chase Yingling is a third-year majoring in digital/print journalism. To contact him, email cey5100@psu.edu.