Texas defeated No. 5 Georgia 28-21 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl as the No. 15 Longhorns beat a top-10 opponent for the second time this season, while the Bulldogs’ 2018 campaign ended in disappointment after nearly winning the SEC Championship and falling short of the College Football Playoff.

Texas’ 10 wins are the program’s most since 2009, when it went 13-1 and lost to Alabama in the BCS Championship.

Georgia’s loss marks the first time the Bulldogs have dropped back-to-back games since Week 9 of the 2016 season.

At kickoff, Georgia was a 13-point favorite, according to the Vegas Insider consensus. But Texas quickly established itself as the aggressor, scoring on the game’s opening possession and turning a Georgia special teams mishap into a field goal less than four minutes later.

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger was 5-of-5 for 61 yards on the Longhorns’ 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive that they put together after receiving the kickoff. He punched it in from two-yards out – one of three rushing touchdowns he had in the game.

The Bulldogs suffered a pair of self-inflicted wounds on special teams as punter Jake Camarda’s knee touched the ground as he fielded the snap on Georgia’s first possession, resulting in a turnover on downs that gave Texas the ball at Georgia’s 27-yard line.

On Georgia’s next possession, Camarda’s punt traveled just 11 yards before it went out of bounds.

While Georgia entered the Sugar Bowl averaging more than 250 rushing yards per game, Texas outperformed the ‘Dawgs on the ground. Texas running back Tre Watson rushed 18 times for 91 yards, while Ehlinger added 64 rushing yards. The Longhorns rushed for 178 yards as a team.

The Longhorns frequently stacked the box and didn’t let the Bulldogs’ rushing attack get into a rhythm. They had just 72 yards on 30 attempts as running back D’Andre Swift, Georgia’s leading rusher this season, was held to 12 yards on eight carries. He fumbled twice, including a costly turnover that gave Texas the ball at Georgia’s 12-yard line late in the first quarter that allowed the Longhorns to take a 17-0 lead.

Georgia’s longest run of the day was an 11-yard rush by Elijah Holyfield.

For much of the night, the Bulldogs weren’t much better through the air as Texas hounded Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm in the pocket and the team’s passing attack appeared off-kilter. Fromm finished 20-of-34 for 212 yards, three touchdowns and one interception with 114 yards and two touchdowns coming in the fourth quarter. It was too little, too late.

Fromm threw an interception on the first possession of the second half and a potential touchdown pass to Jeremiah Holloman on another drive was thrown just out of reach near the goal line. Fromm was sacked on the very next play, knocking Georgia out of field goal range, and the Bulldogs were forced to punt from Texas’ 40-yard line.

After Georgia cut Texas’ lead to 28-14 early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs had a three-and-out on their next drive after Fromm overthrew a streaking Tyler Simmons on 3rd & 14.

Georgia’s defense, which entered the Sugar Bowl ranked No. 16 in Football Outsiders’ S&P+ rankings, allowed Texas to convert 9-of-19 third down attempts and both of its fourth down attempts.

The Bulldogs nearly came up with a pivotal goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter, when Ehlinger ran the ball on six consecutive plays and four times in a row from Georgia’s 1-yard line. The Bulldogs stopped the Texas quarterback the first three times but he was patient on 4th & Goal and he found a lane to the end zone that put the Longhorns up 28-7 after the PAT.

Texas was able to burn the clock with its running game to survive Georgia’s comeback attempt. The Bulldogs scored the game’s final 14 points, including a touchdown pass from Fromm to Swift with 14 seconds left to make it a one-score game but Texas recovered Georgia’s onside kick, ending the Bulldogs’ last-ditch effort.

Now the Longhorns will go into the offseason with as much deserved hype as they’ve seen in some time.

At the trophy ceremony after the game, Ehlinger proclaimed on national television, “We’re baaaaaack.”

With a Big 12 Championship Game appearance, 10 wins, a Sugar Bowl win and five wins over ranked opponents in year two of the Tom Herman era, Texas could be poised to take another step forward in 2019 with the return of Ehlinger and the departure of Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and West Virginia quarterback Will Grier. The Big 12 might run through Austin next fall.

Georgia’s future is also bright with the return of Fromm, a talented running back corps and nationally elite recruiting but the Bulldogs have lost by one possession in three of their biggest games in the last two seasons – last season’s national championship game, the 2018 SEC Championship and the Sugar Bowl.

The ‘Dawgs aren’t going anywhere but they still have work to do to reach the level of Alabama and Clemson – the two best schools of the College Football Playoff era.