ATLANTA – Texas has lost two games this season, both against Georgia. The most recent loss, a 22-19 overtime loss Saturday to the Bulldogs in the SEC championship game, means there will be no first-round bye for the Longhorns in the College Football Playoff.

As devastating as the loss was for coach Steve Sarkisian and his players, he said it didn’t change his mind.

“We’re going to compete for a national championship. That’s what I’m thinking about,” Sarkisian said.

Texas (11-2) will find out how far behind it falls on Sunday when the CFP Committee announces its final rankings. The Longhorns were No. 2 last week, and while there’s a sense that the committee won’t penalize a team that made its conference championship game too tough, Texas can’t post any wins over an opponent ranked in the top 25 each week the jury counts.

“At the level of culture that Coach Sark has created here, we know we’re still in it and we still have a chance to do things right,” Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron said. “It can’t just be ‘poor me’ for the next two weeks. You have to get back to work. We fix what we need to fix.”

The Bulldogs struggled to win Saturday as their starting quarterback was out of the game for all but one play in the second half. Gunner Stockton replaced Carson Beck, who injured his right (throwing) arm just before halftime.

The Longhorns dominated the first half stats but couldn’t finish their drives, missed two field goals in the game and had 11 penalties – eight of them in the first half. Quarterback Quinn Ewers passed for 358 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions and was sacked six times. Ewers attempted 46 passes. He threw it 43 times in the first game, a 30-15 loss, and Arch Manning attempted six more passes. In Saturday’s loss, Manning managed one carry in the game.

The common denominator in both games was Texas’ inability to pass the ball against Georgia’s defense. The Longhorns managed just 31 rushing yards on Saturday and 29 on Oct. 19 in Austin after falling behind 23-0.

“We just didn’t capitalize on it at the end of the day,” Ewers said Saturday. “I think it was entirely up to us. We had many opportunities to capitalize. Some games work like this. We’ll definitely take a close look at it and move on from here. … but with the new 12-team playoffs, we can continue to play.”

Ewers had 149 passing yards at the end of the first quarter, but all Texas could manage in the first half were two field goals. The Longhorns led 6-3, but it could easily have been 17-3.

“We shot ourselves in the foot a few times and got into some threes and longs down there that were hard to get out of,” Ewers said.

Since the Longhorns are no longer a top-four seed, they will need to play a total of 17 games this season if they want to win the national title. The CFP first-round matches take place on December 20th and 21st, meaning the losers of the conference championship games won’t have nearly as much downtime as the top four seeds.

Texas played Saturday without star left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., who was sidelined with an ankle injury.

“Hey, I really appreciate this game. I think this game means a lot to the Southeastern Conference,” Sarkisian said of playing in an extra game for the SEC Championship. “I was fortunate enough to attend this conference as an assistant and coach them twice. This is a great game and it’s an honor to be a part of it. It was an honor to be there today. We didn’t come out on top, and especially the way it’s structured where not everyone can play against everyone, I think is probably the right thing for a championship game.

“Now our job is to regroup and get as healthy as possible to compete in the playoffs. We have time. We essentially have a bye to prepare for this game and so we’re going to do our best.” “I know our players will do that, both in terms of rehab and recovery, and we’ll figure out against who we play, come up with a plan and get to work.”

Sarkisian said his team has rebounded with its back against the wall in each of the last two seasons and added that he has no doubt the same will happen this season, the Longhorns’ first in the SEC.

“The nice thing for us is that it hurts. It’s tough,” Sarkisian said. “But we get a chance in a few weeks to regroup and get into the College Football Playoff.”

“I think we are good enough to win.”