4 takeaways as Texas's rally falls short of No. 5 Georgia

Quinn Ewers' rust shows up early, leads to QB change

For the second straight game, the start to the game for the Texas offense was pretty abysmal. In the win in the Red River Rivalry game dominant win over the Oklahoma Sooners last weekend, Ewers and the Longhorns didn't register a single first down in the first quarter for the first time during the Sarkisian era.

In the first quarter of this game against Georgia, the Longhorns struggled to move the chains on offense, managing only three first downs in the game's first 15 minutes.

Texas only had 38 total yards of offense while turning the ball over three times in the first half. The struggles in the first half on money downs continued late into the second half for Texas's offense.

After a quarter-and-a-half of stagnant offensive football, Sarkisian decided to give redshirt freshman Arch Manning a shot to lead the Texas offense at quarterback. Outside of a couple of first downs off a combination of a long run and a penalty against the Georgia defense, Manning didn't fair much better at quarterback for Texas's offense late in the first half than Ewers did in the first quarter and early second.

While Georgia outgained Texas by a margin of nearly 75 passing yards in the first half, the Longhorns closed the gap with a more effective air attack in the second half. That said, the Longhorns still outgained Georgia through the air.

But it wasn't enough for the Longhorns to overcome the big 23-point deficit at the half. Texas tried to claw back with that run in the second half, including much better play from Ewers. A couple of failed fourth-down conversions ultimately cost the Longhorns' their chance of coming back to officially tie this game in the second half.