Surging Texas gets biggest test against SEC bully Georgia

AUSTIN — Goodbye, frying pan.

Hello, fire.

Texas’ No. 11 football team will make that leap next Saturday in Athens, Ga. After successfully — and narrowly — getting past Kentucky in overtime, Mississippi State in overtime and Vanderbilt in an officiating enigma, the Longhorns take on Georgia, otherwise known as the SEC bully.

This is statement time.

Win the game for Steve Sarkisian’s first win over Kirby Smart, and 8-2 Texas is announcing to the world that it really is College Football Playoff-worthy.

Lose for the third time in as many meetings with the Bulldogs the past two seasons, and 7-3 Texas is probably destined for the Citrus Bowl or worse.

This is not Smart’s best team, but it has the clutch gene, a more balanced attack, home-field advantage and, of course, SEC officials who are intimidated by him. And Georgia just crushed a decent Mississippi State team on the road that took Texas to the wire.

This is not Sarkisian’s best team either. But it too might have the clutch gene for the most part, too, the Florida loss notwithstanding. It also has a vastly improved passing attack, a grind-it-out mentality on the road, no running game to speak of and the law of averages that Georgia is not going to get every call all season. Well, maybe. Check back on that possibility.

Texas has 2-2 record in true road games this year and hasn’t played as well away from DKR as it usually has under Sarkisian, this year’s Oklahoma game in neutral-site Dallas notwithstanding.

But something tells me these Longhorns, coming off a second off week and a four-game win streak, will be jacked up to the skies to play their first game at Sanford Stadium as SEC members and give it their all in prime time. Will that be good enough? Who knows?

The Longhorns came out looking good in the first reveal of the CFP rankings, slotted in at No. 11, one spot ahead of OU.

Neither of them would be in the bracket if the season ended today because the selection committee has to make room for automatic bids from the jumbled ACC champion and the best Group of 5 team, which will almost assuredly come from the American Conference but God knows who that team will be.

But Texas is in a perfect spot with three games left with which to prove itself, excepting a home game against rival Arkansas.

Tests against No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Texas A&M are beyond challenging, but this Longhorn team is more than capable of upsetting both.

Texas returned to the top 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll at 10th after starting the year ranked No. 1 and falling out of the poll after losing to the Gators.

Now the Longhorns are back with everything in front of them. The story of this team will be told in the next three weeks. Were they ever deserving of that No. 1 ranking? Or were they a fraud that rode the Arch Manning Hype Train to that lofty status without having earned it?

We’ll know more Saturday night.

Kirk Bohls, University of Texas Columnist kirk.bohls@houstonchronicle.com

How I voted in this week's rankings

Photo by: Barry Reeger, AP

1. Ohio State
2. Texas A&M
3. Indiana
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. Texas Tech
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. Georgia Tech
11. Texas
12. Oklahoma
13. Vanderbilt
14. BYU
15. USC
16. Michigan
17. Virginia
18. Louisville
19. Miami
20. Utah
21. Tennessee
22. USF
23. Pitt
24. North Texas
25. Tulane

My CFP Dozen as of now

1. Ohio State
2. Texas A&M
3. Indiana
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. Texas Tech
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. Georgia Tech
11. BYU
12. USF

First-round games

USF at Georgia
BYU at Ole Miss
Georgia Tech at Texas Tech
Notre Dame at Oregon

Around the Horns

There may be a new sheriff in town with the women’s basketball team. OK. maybe not sheriff with reigning SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker on the Longhorns’ No. 4 team. But Aaliyah Crump could qualify as the first deputy. The 6-foot-1 guard from Minnesota earned her first start in the season opener and promptly provided 16 points and five rebounds in a blowout of Incarnate Word. She also had a couple of 3-pointers, which has always been the Achilles' heel of Vic Schaefer’s Texas teams. Crump, who was the No. 5 recruit in the 2025 class, could well be the national Freshman of the Year. …

The men’s basketball team didn’t overly impress in the 75-60 loss to No. 6 Duke at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center, but it didn’t overly worry me, either. Sean Miller’s team has some talent, better length and more athleticism than recently, but it needs to find some shooters as did Rodney Terry before him. It doesn’t appear to have a true point guard or an elite offensive player, which could hold it back greatly, but I did like Miller’s team’s fire and hard play even though it was overmatched. It did lead 33-32 at the half despite shooting only 35% and hung around until the Blue Devils’ depth and shooters wore down the Longhorns. But I do like this Texas’ team’s ability to make some noise in the loaded SEC.

Quote of the Week

Stat of the week

Duke's Cam Boozer had 15 points and 13 rebounds, all of the points coming in the second half.