ATLANTA – You may have heard that Bevo didn’t make the trip to the Southeastern Conference title game because he was denied eligibility due to a lack of accommodations. At least that is the official stance. Not because Bevo attacked Uga in the Sugar Bowl.

If I’m Steve Sarkisian, the Texas coach, I’m joining the conspiracy.

Add it to the boxes to tick in his pre-game speech on Saturday.

Win this game to clinch an SEC title in Texas’ debut season.

Win to avenge this humiliation in October.

Win and get a bye.

Win one for Bevo.

Texas is a different team than the one that lost to Georgia in Austin, and that may not be as good as it looked in October. For one thing, the Longhorns could have a Hall of Fame prospect up their sleeve this week. Texas has also been running a run game lately, which roughly coincides with the time Georgia’s run defense has disappeared. Might explain why the Longhorns are a 2.5-point favorite in a Bulldogs home game.

Sarkisian continually reminds us that Georgia is the standard by which all teams have been measured over the past half-dozen years. Sonny Dykes would give him an amen. But that’s long since history. Last week, the Dawgs needed eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, the Longhorns, who have won 11 straight on the road, are coming off an impressive victory at Kyle Field.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium may be rocking on Saturday, but last time I checked, it doesn’t feel like it’s getting to your ears when the locals are so excited.

Kirby Smart, the old-fashioned SEC chapter announcer after Nick Saban throws more pitches than Yu Darvish, seems genuinely impressed with Sark’s progress. He called it “one of his best coaching jobs in terms of the way he won, the style of games he won.”

As always, he admires the many ways Sark attacks a defense. He says he couldn’t cover everything in practice if he had two weeks. I wouldn’t even try. He insists that he will not “hunt ghosts.”

Not even the most lauded spirit on the Texas sidelines. Arch Manning’s season was all but abandoned since Quinn Ewers returned to the starting lineup. Even when Ewers hobbled against Kentucky, Manning largely remained a waiting quarterback.

Then, on Texas’ first foray into the red zone against A&M, comes Manning, who runs around the left end and jumps over the pylon. It’s something Trey Lance could do if Cowboys fans were calling plays instead of Mike McCarthy. Sark called a few more Manning runs against the Aggies with less and less success. By the way, that’s why McCarthy doesn’t play Lance. The danger of a quarterback run isn’t scary if you assume that the quarterback doesn’t want to or can’t throw.

Of course, Manning can throw just as well as he can run. You might wonder why Sark didn’t think of this sooner.

“Sometimes,” he said this week, “you have to keep a few things up your sleeve.”

There is no point in showing your cards so early in the season that an opponent has an answer. Perhaps Sark will give Manning the run-pass option in a similar situation this week. Or maybe he doesn’t play it at all.

No matter what Sark does with Manning on Saturday, Georgia had to prepare for the possibilities. A primary goal is to maintain a trainer’s schedule.

Barring injury, Manning probably won’t have as much of an impact as Tre Wisner with an improved running game or a defense under Pete Kwiatkowski that has been great all season. Anthony Hill Jr., just a sophomore, could be the best linebacker in the country. Jahdae Barron may be the best defenseman not to win the Heisman.

Carson Beck hasn’t been as easy on the football lately as he was when he threw three interceptions against Texas, but the Longhorns can make almost any quarterback look bad.

And that’s what Smart admires most about Sark’s work this year.

“He knows how to win in the SEC,” he said. “You’re not going to win the SEC with a beauty pageant.

“He won with really good defense.”

Sark wins with everything these days. He has NFL talent, great schemes and one of the most complete teams in the country, as well as a running game. According to the 247Sports Composite, he has the nation’s top recruiting class after dumping five-star defensive tackle Justus Terry under Smart’s nose this week. This is no coincidence. Sark followed a semi-final team with an even better result. Texas is truly back.

Still, Sark shouldn’t mention in his pep talk on Saturday the fact that they will make the playoffs no matter what happens. But he should definitely mention that Uga’s trainer keeps calling Bevo a cow.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

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