Georgia Bulldogs: A Texas Size Fist Fight

By W. Michael Laweson, [email protected]

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

—Muhammad Ali

The sport of boxing, or “the sweet science”, has always been top of mind. Its origins go back to the ancient Greek Olympics, circa 688 BC. Hand-to-hand combat has been around since Cain killed Abel. When two giants meet in the middle to fight, it garners special attention. When the Heavyweight division has multiple championship-worthy fighters, the entire world notices. Ali, Frazier, Foreman, and Tyson are known on every continent. It’s why we are fascinated with Sumo wrestlers. It’s why WrestleMania 3 was the biggest of them all, with Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant. Even in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, you have Gilgamesh and Enkidu. When giants collide, the world pays attention. This Saturday, our Georgia Bulldogs collide with the Texas Longhorns in a playoff-level matchup of giant proportions. 

This will be the third time in just over a calendar year that the Georgia Bulldogs will play Texas in football. Do you think Greg Sankey and his cronies wanted this rivalry to take? I ask that sarcastically, because it clearly was a focus. And it worked. The burgeoning rivalry between these two “blue blood” state university football programs is one that is already hot. When you play three times in thirteen months, each time with playoff appearances and SEC Championship rings at issue, it will tend to do that.

UGA went to Austin last year on October 19, 2024, and embarrassed the Longhorns at their place. The fans threw garbage onto their own field. Apparently, throwing things at your own players, in your own stadium, is a big thing with teams featuring the letters “UT”, but we digress.

Later, on December 7^th, 2024, UGA bested Texas in the SEC Championship game in improbable fashion. It was the first appearance of quarterback Gunner Stockton. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a full-fledged Georgia football hero that night.

So, we fast forward to this Saturday’s clash of the titans in Athens, Georgia, and what do we have? A late-season game with everything on the line. If Georgia loses to Texas at home, their playoff hopes are in serious jeopardy. It’s possible they could or would still make it, but they wouldn’t control their own destiny, as they say. If Texas loses, its season is cooked. Crazy things could happen to open the playoff door to a three-loss SEC team, but it’s unlikely as long as the committee is still licking Notre Dame’s two-loss boots every chance they get. In short, this Saturday’s matchup in Athens is a de facto playoff play-in game. 

Both teams started the season ranked top five nationally (Texas at 2 and Georgia at 5), but their respective play was sleepy, sloppy, and slow at times. Both have shown signs of life and grit these last few weeks. It seems these early-season sleeping giants are beginning to wake just in time for this epic chapter.

For the Dawgs, last week against Mississippi State, the offense decided to wake up in the 2^nd quarter, and that led to an angina, heartburn, heart attack-free Saturday. The offensive line played well, Stockton seems to be seeing downfield with better vision and patience, and consequently, the running game got going. Funny how that works?

That last part is going to be important for UGA this Saturday. One of the things Georgia did well against Texas in 2024 (both games) was run the ball well. Thus far, in 2025, Texas flaunts the number 2 ranked rushing defense in the nation. They average giving up 78.2 yards a game. That’s stout. Coincidentally, Georgia is ranked 24^th in the nation, averaging 197.2 yards a game. Something will have to give there.

In other words, this is going to be a “phone booth” game. In boxing, a “phone booth” fight is where the two combatants don’t dance, bob, or weave. They stand in the middle of the ring and trade punches. It’s like fighting in a phone booth. If you are old enough to remember those things.

There are other things that will help determine and define this latest installment of Georgia versus Texas…penalties, turnovers, the ability to protect the quarterback…but the line of scrimmage in this game is where it will be won or lost. In the trenches with our Gilgameshes against their Enkidus. 

I can promise you this, Texas and its fans are tired of losing to our beloved Georgia Bulldogs. We are quickly becoming to them what Alabama has been to us. Texas just thought Oklahoma was a pain. Now they have us. We know those boys are going to show up ready for battle. That Texas front seven on defense is no joke.

Martin Dougherty, author of (Special Forces Unarmed Combat Guide: Hand-to-Hand Fighting Skills From The World’s Most Elite Military Units) wrote, “Even if you cannot achieve much in the way of fitness, every little bit helps. The other guy might be getting tired, too. If he has five seconds’ worth of fight left in him and you have 10, you will win.”

Come the 4^th quarter of this game, the work, the sweat, the blood, the tears, the exhaustion, the strain, the sacrifice from this summer and from all the practices will have led up to this Saturday. This Saturday’s matchup against Texas is why you prepare and press through the pain all those long, hot Georgia afternoons. Every little bit helps. Let’s hope our giants can beat their giants.

Mr. Lawson returned home to “The Good Life City” in 2023 and is currently Vice President of Commercial Banking at Flint Community Bank. He writes to honor his grandfather, who was an avid Georgia Bulldog fan.