NCAAF
College Football
Week 12
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No. 10 Texas and No. 5 Georgia are facing off in a rematch of last season’s SEC Championship Game.
Follow live for the latest news, play-by-play updates and analysis from The Athletic’s team of college football writers.
Check out this week’s live coverage schedule on The Athletic.
Texas’ road trip to Georgia tonight is the biggest in-conference test for Arch Manning to date. He had a tough experience in the Swamp when the Longhorns lost to Florida, but this is a better team than the Gator squad he faced in September (even if it’s not a typical Georgia defense).
Manning’s first experience against Georgia, in relief of Quinn Ewers in the first half of a home loss to the Dawgs, was a little rocky. But Manning has come a long way both from that experience and his early-season struggles.
Can he stay on schedule, get the ball out quickly and keep his footwork on point? If so, Texas has a chance.
Rapper, Atlanta native and Georgia superfan (not to mention a former high school football star in his own right) Quavo is between the hedges to watch his Dawgs take on Texas!
Unsurprisingly, so is award-winning actor and official Texas Longhorns football “Minister of Culture” Matthew McConaughey.
As we near kickoff an Athens, here’s a stunning statistic for you that illustrates the new, super-conference world we live in.
Since Texas A&M joined the SEC back in 2012, the Aggies have faced Georgia in football a grand total of … one time. (It was a 19-13 win by the Bulldogs over Jimbo Fisher’s Aggies in 2019, in case you’re wondering.)
In-state rival Texas, meanwhile, joined the SEC a little more than a year ago — and this is already the Longhorns’ third matchup against Georgia, following last year’s regular-season matchup (won by Georgia 30-15 in Austin) and the SEC Championship Game (won by Georgia 22-19 in overtime).
The rematch of last year’s SEC Championship Game could eliminate Texas from a return trip to the postseason. The Longhorns are 1-4 under Steve Sarkisian as a road underdog, and Georgia is 53-4 as a home favorite under Kirby Smart. Sure, Georgia’s defense isn’t as stingy as it used to be. But we’ve seen more evidence of Texas struggling on offense this season than we’ve seen it flourish. Gunner Stockton — the highest-rated passer in the SEC in conference games — throws for 230-plus yards, two touchdowns and outduels Arch Manning (250-plus yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) in an eight-point Bulldogs’ win.
Check out the rest of my Week 12 oddly specific predictions here.
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College football Week 12 oddly specific predictions: USC stumbles in trap game, Alabama surges
A month ago, Texas beat Oklahoma 23-6. If you believe the Sooners should be near the front of the two-loss line, as the committee (No. 11) and the computers (No. 13) do, there's reason to have the Longhorns around No. 10. Texas has also beaten No. 14 Vanderbilt and played No. 1 Ohio State far tougher than anyone else has. The loss to still-talented Florida was close and on the road, at least.
But the Horns rank down at No. 15 in those computers, below the Miami that's beaten Notre Dame. They did not look like championship stuff against 2-7 UTEP, 4-5 Kentucky or 5-5 Mississippi State. Two losses and three wet farts, all in nine games? That's a Playoff team?
Here's where it feels like I'm supposed to say this weekend will work it all out. Except it won't, not even if Texas wins in Athens. Because two weeks later is an even bigger game in Austin against No. 3 Texas A&M. Split those two games, and Texas probably looks like the first three-loss Playoff at-large.
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Texas is CFB’s hardest team to judge, plus the best rivalry trophy of all
A playoff-altering statement win from Brent Venables and No. 11 Oklahoma! The Sooners’ defense hangs on again, thanks to a late sack against Ty Simpson to shock No. 4 Alabama 23-21 in Tuscaloosa!
Ironically, Oklahoma’s archrival Texas may stand to gain the most from the Sooners’ win — the Longhorns’ path to returning to the SEC Championship Game is suddenly wide open if they defeat Georgia tonight…
A friend of Kirby Smart turning up at a Georgia practice usually wouldn’t deserve more than a passing thought.
Unless that friend happened to beat Texas this year.
Billy Napier, who was Florida’s coach when the Gators upset Texas in early October before getting fired later that month, was spotted at Georgia’s practice this week as the Bulldogs geared up to face the Longhorns. Napier and Smart are longtime friends from even before their days working together as assistant coaches under Nick Saban at Alabama. Smart claimed that’s all Napier’s visit was — just two friends catching up. But as Seth Emerson writes, the timing sure is curious…
GO FURTHER
Ex-Florida coach Billy Napier visits Georgia practice before Texas game
WOW. What a play call from Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. On fourth-and-two, Alabama lines up offensive lineman Kaidyn Proctor in the backfield and appears set to hand it off to him, only to instead give it Lotzeir Brooks on a reverse! Brooks gets just enough for a first down near midfield to keep Alabama’s hopes alive, but the Crimson Tide still need to do more to set up a game-winning field-goal attempt…
The SEC will likely get more teams in the 2025 College Football Playoff than the three teams it had in the inaugural 12-team field last season. But could the conference get as many as seven teams in? What about the ACC champion missing the field entirely, or Iowa and Arizona State making late-season runs?
It’s all possible, according to Austin Mock’s projection models. He takes you through what needs to happen for each chaos scenario here.
GO FURTHER
Want College Football Playoff chaos? Seven SEC teams, Big Ten champ Iowa and more wild scenarios
The good news for both Arch Manning and Gunner Stockton tonight is that their respective pass-catching corps have some of the most electric wide receivers in college football currently.
Manning has the trio of DeAndre Moore Jr., Ryan Niblett and Ryan Wingo at his disposal. Wingo took a swing pass at the line of scrimmage for a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown on Texas’ first play from scrimmage against Vanderbilt two weeks ago, while Niblett had a game-sealing punt return for a touchdown against Oklahoma in October.
Stockton, meanwhile, has USC transfer Zachariah Branch as a dangerous catch-and-run threat. Branch is averaging nearly nine catches and 77 yards per game over his past four starts.
CJ Allen has been one of the defensive leaders for Georgia this season. The linebacker has 39 solo tackles, 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles.
His 75 total tackles are second in the SEC. Look for Allen to have an impact game, trying to get after Texas QB Arch Manning.
Nice goal-line stand from the Alabama defense there, holding Oklahoma to a chip-shot field goal… but Oklahoma still retakes the lead, 23-21, and the Sooners defense responds with a third-down sack on Ty Simpson to force another Alabama punt on the next possession!
The No. 11 Sooners with some momentum, looking to upset the No. 4 Crimson Tide on the road…
It appeared as though the Crimson Tide would finally start pulling away from the Sooners as the third quarter progressed in Tuscaloosa. After Oklahoma kicked a 52-yard field goal to go up 20-14 early in the third quarter, Ty Simpson responded by leading a 75-yard touchdown drive to put Alabama up 21-20.
But Brent Venables’ Sooners defense responded by forcing a three-and-out and then a fumble — Alabama’s third turnover of the game — on the next two Crimson Tide possessions, and Oklahoma begins the fourth quarter with an excellent chance to take the lead at second-and-goal from the Alabama 9-yard line!
If Texas A&M had lost — as seemed almost certain for awhile — this game would have had a direct impact on who plays in the SEC championship: Georgia would have been in with a win, but if it lost Alabama would have clinched a spot. (No matter what happened against Oklahoma. Never mind the complicated explanation, because it didn't happen anyway.)
Georgia still has a decent shot to make it: A win tonight, and a Texas A&M loss in two weeks at Texas, and the Bulldogs get in.
Texas, meanwhile, still has a shot too, as a win tonight and then against Texas A&M would make the Longhorns 7-1 in the conference, at minimum in a tie with Texas A&M, perhaps also with Alabama and Ole Miss. And if the tiebreaker ends up conference schedule strength, the Longhorns are in good shape: Their opponents combined record was 24-24 coming into today, the best among the contenders, ahead of Georgia (24-25), Alabama (22-27), Ole Miss (17-32) and Texas A&M (13-34).
Those records include future opponents, without assuming future results, so mathematically it would be unrealistic for Ole Miss and Texas A&M to surpass Texas in the event of a three-way or four-way tie.
Texas placed 10th in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. If the 12-team CFP started today, the Longhorns would face Ole Miss with Indiana waiting in the quarterfinals.
Here is our Ralph D. Russo on the importance of today’s Texas-Georgia game:
💬 “The Longhorns still have a path to the SEC title game, though that would be all but cut off with a loss here. Don’t bury Texas’ CFP hopes with a third loss just yet.”
Georgia placed fifth in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. It's the second straight ranking that Georgia was No. 5.
If the 12-team CFP started today, Georgia would play South Florida with SEC rival Alabama waiting in the quarterfinals.
With Arch Manning facing Georgia today, it’s important to remember that Kirby Smart tried hard to recruit the Texas quarterback, as did then-Alabama coach Nick Saban. Manning ended up picking Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns.
Below is Seth Emerson summarizing Smart’s history of picking QBs:
💬 “Such is the overarching story of the quarterback position during Smart’s 10-year tenure: He goes after five-stars and experienced transfers, and often gets them. Then he wins with less-heralded guys.”
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As Arch Manning comes to Georgia, Kirby Smart’s history of picking QBs — or falling into them
You probably know at least parts of the story by now. Arch Manning’s arrival at Texas as the No. 1 overall recruit in the Class of 2023 was meant to herald the next generation of Manning quarterback excellence, a legacy started by his grandfather and namesake, Archie, and continued through his uncles, Peyton and Eli. Arch waited two years, then made his debut as Texas’ unquestioned starter in Week 1 at Ohio State … and struggled. Badly. Those struggles continued in an early-season loss at Florida, prompting declarations that Manning was college football’s first-ever full-blown “bust.”
But Manning responded by leading Texas to a win over archrival Oklahoma, followed by a narrow victory at Kentucky and a furious comeback at Mississippi State, before his best performance of his college career two weeks ago against Vanderbilt. Manning’s 2025 Heisman Trophy campaign might be dead, but his hopes of leading Texas back to the College Football Playoff are still very much alive.
This season, Manning has 18 touchdown passes, six interceptions, 2,123 passing yards and a 63-percent completion rate. He has rushed for 203 yards and six more scores.
We know a lot more about Gunner Stockton than we did when he last faced Texas in the 2024 SEC Championship Game in relief of an injured Carson Beck. Like counterpart Arch Manning, the dual-threat Stockon has improved as a passer throughout his first season as a starter and is coming off one of his best performances, throwing for 264 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against Mississippi State last week.
Stockton has 15 touchdowns, two interceptions, 2,040 passing yards and a 69-percent completion rate this season, along with 321 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.