ATLANTA - If you felt like Georgia's defense was a bit boom or bust against Texas on Saturday night, you're not entirely wrong.
The Bulldogs have up their fair share of chunk plays -- 10 Texas pass plays went for at least 15 yards. But Georgia also created havoc like it hasn't all season, helping the Bulldogs secure the 22-19 win and the SEC championship.
"A lot of those plays we can't give up," senior safety Dan Jackson said. "A lot of it's just bad eyes and bad communication, but, you know, we never want to give up anything easy, and unfortunately we did some tonight that I know I wish I could have back. But we’re going to fight to the end. That's our goal every week is we don't want teams to want to play us again."
The Bulldogs had a strong performance in the year's first matchup against Texas.
Georgia totaled seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss in the 30-15 win over the Longhorns in October. That sack number is a season-high for the Bulldogs.
In the SEC Championship Game against Texas, the defense excelled once again. In addition to six sacks (second only to the first game against Texas), the Bulldogs racked up a season-high 15 tackles for loss resulting in 49 yards lost for the Longhorns.
"We just had to execute," linebacker CJ Allen said. "We knew they were going to look for different stuff than we did last game. We were just changing and tweaking a little bit, but it all just come down and execute. Tackle them, get out of blocks, effort, and just run to the ball. That's all it boils down to."
The Bulldogs also stifled Texas' red-hot running game.
The Longhorns had rushed for 245 yards per game over its last two contests. Against Georgia, Texas rushed for just 31 yards on 28 carries.
"I mean, first, hat’s off to the big guys up front for doing their job," Jackson said. "They make it a lot easier to play in the back end, but it starts with them. Then our second level, third level, just keeping the right leverage and flying it to the ball."
The defense played a pivotal role at the game's end as well. On defense first in overtime, Georgia held Texas to a field goal, allowing the offense to eventually win the game with a Trevor Etienne touchdown run.
"We knew when we was up first, you know, you just had to get it back to our offense. They were going to do the rest," Allen said.
Georgia knows it has issues to fix, especially on the back end, heading into the College Football Playoff. Those issues put the Bulldogs in an early hole and erased a touchdown lead in the fourth quarter.
But a return to "core values" helped the Bulldogs claim another SEC title on Saturday night.
"We were backed up a couple times. Stuff wasn't going in our favor, you know, gave up a couple plays, a couple shots," Allen said. "But at the end of the day, we had to keep going. The end zone is where it ends, so we just keep fighting."
