Will the Texas Longhorns, Steve Sarkisian ever solve the Kirby Smart riddle? | Golden

TAMPA, Fla. -  The Georgia Bulldogs are undeniably responsible for preventing a Texas Longhorns takeover of SEC football. And coach Kirby Smart has a starring role in Steve Sarkisian's nightmares.

Some people dream in black and white. I wonder if Sark's are red and black. 

The Longhorns will not play Georgia in the regular season for the first time since joining the league in 2024. That 0-3 record - two regular-season meetings and a 22-19 overtime loss in the 2024 conference title game - isn't easy on the eyes, but it's something that must change lest Sark's dreams will be replaced by full-on insomnia.

Shoot, Sark should call the league schedule makers and ask for the Texas A&M Package since the Aggies have played the Bulldogs only once - a 19-13 loss in 2019 - since joining the SEC in 2012 while Texas has gotten a three-piece in two seasons.

Oh, to harken back to that magical 2019 night in New Orleans when sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger led the Longhorns to a 28-21 win over Smart's national runner-up Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. It was also the same day Bevo nearly trucked Georgia's beloved mascot Uga in pregame.

Either instance could be the last time a Longhorn got the best of a Bulldog during football season.  

Sark hasn't beaten Smart in three meetings and despite the absence of the Bulldogs on this year's schedule, the Smart specter looms large if the Horns can beat Ohio State in their Sept. 12 showdown in Austin, successfully navigate this nine-game league slate and make it back to the SEC championship game.

Georgia's Kirby Smart does it his way

Smart was his usual feisty self while addressing reporters Tuesday at SEC media days. He's more intense than the 15th round of Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed and wore his usual game face with more than a month to go until the season opener against Tennessee State.

Smart is 33-3 in the SEC over the last five seasons and has won back-to-back league titles, but he remains hungry. It's what makes Smart the coach he is. He's no phony. It isn't against the law to wear one's heart on one's sleeve and his way of doing business has made him the perfect fit in Athens. In some ways he's like his former boss Nick Saban, a stern taskmaster who kept the media at arm's length while fostering an us-against-them mentality in his locker room and in the coaching room.

"I don't have an ego that says you have to do it my way," Smart said. "I want to hear how you want to do it, and let's find the best way. What I am worried about is what kind of product do we put on the field in terms of physicality, toughness, all those things, how we practice, that's non-negotiable for me. The landscape is kind of over on the side.

If you get really lost and caught up in landscape and you're constantly arguing and fussing and complaining and tweeting and doing all that, guess what you're not worrying about? We're going to worry about what matters first at our place."

That would be winning and he's done plenty. Smart, the nation's highest paid coach at $13 million annually, is one of only two active FBS coaches with two national championships. Clemson's Dabo Swinney is the other.

Will we get Texas vs Georgia for the SEC title?

Rarely does a Sarkisian team get embarrassed on the scoreboard, but the 35-10 loss in Athens last November counts as the low point of Texas' 2025 season with the October no-show at Florida running a distant second. It wasn't just that Georgia punked Texas, but it was how it happened: a competitive three quarters followed by a blitz in the fourth that the Horns didn't see coming.

Quarterback Gunner Stockton outlasted the much more ballyhooed Arch Manning and Smart got the better of Sarkisian, adding a salt mine to his  colleague's 1,000 cuts with an onside kick after taking a 21-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

Sometimes an opponent has your number. Sark should call his mobile provider and change his. Smart, ever the psychological warfare practictioner, texted Sarkisian one week before the beatdown. It happened the day the Bulldogs were traveling to Mississippi State, a game they won by 21.

Apparently, it was friendly conversation between two good coaches, but it's probable that Smart wants Sark to know "I'm still in your head. I run the SEC. You're going to have deal with me for a long time."

Give Sark credit for trying to figure this thing out. He brought in former Georgia defensive coordinator Will Muschamp to run the defense and maybe, just maybe, provide some needed intel for the inevitable rematch. Coach Boom doesn't run scared and neither does Sark. It could be the partnership that turns this one-sided rivalry around.

"Muschamp, that's my dawg," Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson said. "He was always smiling and trying to make people laugh but don't get me wrong. He was a serious dude at the same time. He would be quick to flip that switch and get serious and rip you if you messed up."

For now, the Horns are just focused on getting back to the College Football Playoff, where Georgia will be somewhere waiting. There is no avoiding great teams on the road to greatness.

Just like Mack Brown had to solve his Bob Stoops problem, Sarkisian must figure out a way to hit this league's resident bully in the mouth.

Someday he will have to go through Georgia's red brick wall to return Texas football to special places.

Sooner rather than later, Sark.

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