AUSTIN – Yeah, yeah, sure. Georgia has already beaten Texas twice this year. The Bulldogs did their best to ruin a perfectly good season on the Forty Acres. Without Georgia, Texas wouldn’t have even had to go to work on Saturday.

But hear us out: Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.

Finally, Texas got another Bevo Walk on Saturday, another time for an experienced senior class to soak up the atmosphere of 101,150 spectators at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. It gave the Longhorns another opportunity to hear Matthew McConaughey get weird on the sound system. Most importantly, it gave the Longhorns another opportunity to get back to what they do really well: running the damn ball.

In a 38-24 victory over Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Texas outlasted an overwhelmed Tigers defense and then outrebounded them with a season-high 292 yards and four rushing touchdowns. Texas will take its regrouped ground game back to Atlanta, site of its recent loss to Georgia, to play Arizona State in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on Jan. 1.

Texas split fairly evenly: Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue each got two. Wisner did most of the hard work early; Blue, who had touchdown runs of 38 and 77 yards, the latter coming after Clemson had pulled within a score, did the speed work. End of the night: Blue had 146 yards, Wisner, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter to rest a knee he “hit” late in the first half, had 110.

In many ways, it was exactly as coach Steve Sarkisian thought it would be after Georgia held the Longhorns to 31 yards rushing in a 22-19 overtime loss in the SEC championship 10 days ago.

“One of the first bullet points I brought to the room was ‘Run to win,'” Sarkisian said of his message to his team during the work week. “We had to run to win this game. And we have to play the football to advance in these playoffs. That’s what playoff football is all about. So we really challenged them in the run game.”

They replied. Just like the first time, Georgia beat them in October, holding the running game to 29 yards. Texas followed with three 200-plus yard games on the ground in the five games between the Georgia matchups.

Against Clemson, it was important to show that the problem was just a Georgia thing. Clemson was the perfect opponent for Texas to restore the ground game. Clemson entered the CFP ranked 73rd in the country – last among playoff teams – in run defense. There was a weakness to exploit and ultimately send a message to the rest of the remaining playoff field: Sarkisian may have been a quarterback once and remains a quarterback at heart, but Texas will run to win. Arizona State, consider your Sun Devils warned.

“The running game is really important for us on a lot of levels,” Sarkisian said. “Firstly, our offense is better when we can execute it, because then the balance can really work for us. It opens up a lot to what we do. If we can make it effective, teams have a lot to prepare for if they want to play us.”

That’s how effective Texas’ running game was on Saturday: It literally didn’t matter who was where on the offensive line. Texas got left tackle Kelvin Banks on Saturday, who missed the SEC Championship Game, but lost center Jake Majors and right tackle Cameron Williams on consecutive plays late in the first half. Sarkisian said both could have returned, but Texas chose not to. Instead, guard Hayden Conner moved to center and Cole Hutson moved to the offensive line, which was disorganized to say the least. Worked well enough to give Blue a 77-yard run down the right side three plays after Clemson had cut a one-time lead from 28-10 to 31-24. On both of Blue’s long touchdown runs, Ewers picked off a pass play after reading Clemson’s defensive line.

It was also a good comeuppance for Blue, who had struggled with ball retention earlier this season and had been relegated to a secondary role compared to Wisner.

“The guys at the top paved the way for me,” Blue said. “We placed a lot of emphasis on the fact that we had to run the ball to win this game.”

For that, Texas can somehow thank Georgia for the memory.

So far, so good: See photos from Texas’ first-round College Football Playoff win over Clemson in Austin

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