In a game this close you can point to a lot of things that would change the outcome but this is a big one for me. The Texas offense, Sark's baby, was sloppy, undisciplined, and was Georgia's MVP for a huge chunk of the game. Same offensive issues that have showed up all season, but even worse. He schemed up a really strong game pan out the gate but clearly did not have the answers once that faltered. You could tell in the short halftime interview the frustration was getting to him. STs continue to have issues and Georgia somehow caught us completely off guard with their fake punt that should have been on the radar in that situation, and proved to be an absolute back breaker (it turned a 3 and out after a Texas score that would have solidified the momentum shift in Texas's favor into the spark of Georgia's 9-minute drive). The bottom line is Georgia still outclasses us when it comes to playing to their standard in these games. That's coaching.
Sark is still learning how to be a championship HC at the top of the sport. He's far exceeded my wildest dreams as a roster/program builder, which is what sets the floor and gets you to these games, so I don't want to make more than it is. But the things that doomed the Texas offense yesterday, both on the field and on the headsets, have been consistent issues all year and indeed for Sark's entire tenure. It'd be unreasonable to expect those to vanish between games 12 and 13 but to see it get worse is a terrible look. Maybe he'll get there on game management eventually. Maybe he just builds a roster that's such a juggernaut that it can simply eat 100 yards of penalties against a top 5 opponent and still win. He's certainly earned the runway to find out if he can. But as much as anything else, I think Georgia won this game because Texas at times still shows some mental weakness and lack of discipline/prep that a truly championship level program like Georgia has rooted out entirely. I think @TwiceHorn was the person who originally pointed that out, and it's stuck with me. Georgia just has a stronger competitive culture than Texas right now. I think Georgia's off the field issues could start to metastasize and eroding that soon, and maybe we even saw that during the regular season, but that didn't show up yesterday.
Texas has produced back to back top 5 type teams. We're on the penultimate step on the ladder. The last step is always the hardest in sports. The wait can be long and excruciating, but if we take that last step - and I think the window for that is certainly open the next few years at least - we'll remember this season and game as an important part of the climb.