After yet another dominating win, this time over UTSA, paired with a close call for Georgia at Kentucky, the Texas Longhorns have hopped up to the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2008. It's a controversial move, considering the way Georgia has dominated college football over the past three years, but one college football legend and current member of the media thinks it's the right call.

Michigan's Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard sees the gap between Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Georgia quarterback Carson Beck as a real differentiating factor between the two SEC squads. Howard stressed the importance of having a dominant player at the game's "most important position," and also discussed how Beck and the Georgia offense struggled to get going not only in the Kentucky game, but also in the first half of their season opener against Clemson.

While everything Howard said makes perfect sense, the timing is a bit ironic. He cites Ewers's excellence as a reason to back Texas, but this week, he was knocked out early in the game, and backup Arch Manning had the opportunity to shine. Manning, in his first extended game action, completed nine of his 12 pass attempts for 223 yards and four touchdowns with some very impressive throws mixed in. Manning also impressed with his athleticism, contrary to the family tradition set by his immobile uncles Peyton and Eli, as he broke away for a long touchdown run during which he cracked a speed of 20 miles per hour. 

Texas exploded onto the scene with a dominating Week 2 win on the road against defending national champions Michigan, and they showed no signs of a hangover or slowing down in their next outing against UTSA. The good news is that this debate between the Longhorns and Bulldogs will play out on the field due to the widespread college football conference realignment. 

These two teams are now in-conference foes, and will face off on October 19th in Austin. The week before that game, however, is Texas's famed Red River Rivalry matchup with No. 15 Oklahoma, who dealt the Longhorns their only loss of the regular season in 2023. This arguably provides Georgia with a meaningful edge, as they'll be facing unranked Mississippi State a week before.

As another delightful symptom of the changes across college football is that these two teams could meet again in the SEC title game, although that would most likely require the loser to win the remainder of their regular season games. The SEC no longer has divisions, so the championship will be played between the two teams with the best records.

With an expanded College Football Playoff, there's also a high likelihood that both teams make it into the field. With a regular-season matchup as well as potential meetings in the conference title game and playoff, could these two juggernauts become the first two teams of the modern era to play three times in one season? We'll have to wait and see, but given the resemblance between this SEC duopoly and a pair of rival prizefighters, a trilogy might be very fitting.