No. 15 Texas’ Sugar Bowl matchup with No. 5 Georgia officially set

The increasingly expected is now official.

With the Oklahoma Sooners securing a bid in the College Football Playoff and the Georgia Bulldogs being left just narrowly on the outside looking in at No. 5 nationally, the Sugar Bowl matchup has been set — Texas will head to New Orleans for a New Year’s Six bowl, where Tom Herman’s program will meet Georgia on Jan. 1, 2019.

The Longhorns coming in at No. 15 in the final playoff rankings means the matchup will mark yet another ranked showdown on each program’s schedule this season.

Entering the Sugar Bowl, Texas and Georgia are each 4-2 against ranked competition. The Longhorns own wins over No. 22 USC, No. 17 TCU, No. 7 Oklahoma, and No. 16 Iowa State, but fell at home against No. 13 West Virginia by a single point, and most recently, in the Big 12 Championship game to now-No. 4 and playoff-bound Oklahoma, 39-27. Georgia, on the other hand, has ranked wins over 24 South Carolina, No. 9 Florida, No. 9 Kentucky, and No. 24 Auburn, but fell by 20 points on the road against No. 13 LSU, and of course, came on short in the SEC Championship against top-ranked Alabama, 35-28.

Now reeling from respective conference championship losses, Texas and Georgia will meet for just the fifth time ever and for the first time in 35 years. The Longhorns own the all-time edge over the Bulldogs, 3-1, but Georgia won the most recent meeting in 1984, topping then-undefeated and No. 2-ranked Texas in the Cotton Bowl, 10-9.

Georgia will enter the Sugar Bowl boasting an 11-2 record and seeking the program’s second 12-win season in as many tries, while the 9-4 Longhorns will aim to capture the program’s first 10-win season since 2009.

The Sugar Bowl is set to kickoff at 7:45 p.m. CT on Jan. 1, 2019.