The Texas Longhorns, ranked No. 10 in the country and exiting their bye week on a four-game win streak, were ran out of Sanford Stadium on Saturday as the reigning SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs reminded everyone who the top dog is in the south.

Georgia beat Texas 35-10 to set the Dawgs up with a seemingly safe path to return to the conference championship game with games against Charlotte and Georgia Tech to close out the regular season.

Texas (7-3, 4-2 SEC) still has a narrow path to the title game, but it'll likely need to win out against Arkansas and rival Texas A&M, who narrowly escaped South Carolina off of the largest comeback in program history Saturday afternoon.

With quarterback Arch Manning playing Georgia (9-1, 7-1 SEC) for the first time as a full-time starter, he led an opening drive that ended in a field goal, but the Bulldogs responded with a touchdown drive, forced three-and-out, and another score to take a double-digit lead.

Defenses settled in in the second quarter before the Horns got an interception that led to Manning finding Ryan Wingo for a touchdown to make the score 14-10. The Bulldogs responded immediately to stretch the lead, and a sneak-attack on-side kick gave Georgia the ball back with complete momentum.

Two more scores would put a bow on the resounding win for the Bulldogs as the Longhorns were plagued by costly miscues and poor execution it crucial spots.

"That was a really good game until the start of the fourth quarter," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said postgame. "... It was 21 to nothing in the fourth quarter. So, great job by Georgia, I thought they did a nice job. ... Disappointing. It was a pretty good game for three quarters and it was not a great game in the fourth quarter, at least not for us."

My five thoughts from the loss as Texas moves into the final two weeks of the schedule:

1 - Arch Manning played fine

There have been lofty expectations placed on the shoulders of the redshirt-sophomore ever since his Heisman Trophy favoritism before the season began. Things, to a point, have only gone downward since, but its important to remember that Manning carried his weight here against Georgia.

Manning finished with 251 passing yards on 27-of-43 with one touchdown and one interception.

Despite a couple overthrows and the miss on Georgia's second-quarter interception, Manning was as composed as you could've wanted him to be in that type of atmosphere against an opponent like the Bulldogs.

Manning looked comfortable moving up in the pocket and was smart about when or when not to try to escape. Georgia still finished with three sacks of the Longhorns QB, but for as many shortcomings as Manning had earlier in the season, there are still signs of improvement.

"[The game] just kind of got out of control [but] it starts with me,” Manning said as he took the fall for the loss postgame. “I gotta play better, I gotta lead better and we got to get back to work for these last two weeks.”

2 - Costly drops came after bye week killed rhythm

Manning's stat line looked only as good as his receivers allowed it to, and it could have been drastically better. Four first-half drops by Texas receivers stopped the Longhorns from putting together any consistency in the pass game as they worked from behind.

In Texas' last game on Nov. 1, Manning completed 25-of-33 passes with three touchdowns and nearly 10 yards per completion. Two weeks later, the lack of in-game reps after the bye week proved costly. When that dip in production comes against a championship-level contender like Georgia, it is incredibly difficult to overcome.

3 - Penalty discrepancy is a worry

Texas' miscues were also visible in the penalty difference against Georgia. The Longhorns were flagged nine times for 58 yards while the Bulldogs were whistled just once.

There were some obvious missed calls that should have gone in favor of Texas, but the amount of unforced errors, especially pre-snap, have to be addressed. The Longhorns lead the SEC by averaging 8.2 penalties per game.

The unfamiliarity and lack of rhythm from the bye week also may have been a factor here. Texas will have one more road contest next week to try to get things cleaned up before returning home to face the Aggies at DKR to close out the season in what's likely a must-win game to keep postseason hopes alive.

4 - Leaky secondary didn't benefit from Taaffe's return

Texas fans were happy to see the return of All-American safety Michael Taaffe after the captain's thumb surgery, but even that boost in health wasn't enough for the Longhorns secondary to keep pace.

Georgia, not traditionally a pass-heavy team, was able to carve through Taaffe and the Longhorns with ease. Quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 229 yards on an efficient 24-of-29 overall. That included four passing touchdowns and one more rushing for Stockton.

You can blame another factor of miscommunication on the extended break, but Texas is running out of opportunities to assert themselves, especially against teams that aren't known for their aerial attack.

5 - Moving forward

There were some notable finishes across the SEC that have implications on the conference championship as well as the College Football Playoff.

No. 4 Alabama lost to No. 11 Oklahoma, which may make Texas' win over the Sooners in Dallas look a tad more impressive, but Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama Ole Miss still loom as the favorites atop the conference.

The Aggies got down 30-3 at home to the Gamecocks before a fierce rally in the second half pushed them to a 31-30 win to stay undefeated. With a likely pushover game against Samford scheduled next week, Texas fans can hope for these two weeks leading up to the regular-season finale as a chance to spotlight Texas A&M's cracks that can be exploited in Austin on Nov. 28.

For now, Texas will turn its attention to another longtime rival scheduled for Week 13: the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Longhorns will kickoff against Arkansas at 2:30 p.m. CT next Saturday on ABC.

"So, I think the challenge for us now is we got a two-week season in front of us, and we gotta get up off the mat and we gotta compete," Sarkisian said. "We gotta find a way to go win the next two ball games and see what happens."