AUSTIN, Texas — The Georgia defense feasted on No. 1 Texas after Kirby Smart saying his Bulldogs came to Texas to “eat,”

Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) beat the Longhorns 30-15 on Saturday night at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, forcing four turnovers and sacking the Longhorns quarterbacks seven times.

The Bulldogs, No. 5 entering the game and an underdog for the first time since the 2021, are back atop the SEC after starting the season the preseason No. 1.

“Our intent was to come eat and be hungry,” said Smart, now 100-17 in his nine seasons leading Georgia. “I’m not interested in all the bells and whistles. What I want is a team that fights their ass off, and that’s what they did tonight.”

The Bulldogs charged out to a 23-0 halftime lead before Texas (6-1, 2-1) scored on its first two possessions of the second half, cutting the lead to 23-15.

Play was interrupted for some five minutes when Longhorns’ fans littered the field with plastic bottles and trash. During the delay, officials reversed a pass interference penalty that had negated an interception, leading to Texas taking possession at the UGA 9 and scoring two plays later to draw within a score.

It was a controversial call, as Smart indicated, and there will be some discussion over UGA defensive backs Joenel Aguero and Dan Jackson being ejected for targeting calls.

Carson Beck, 23-of-41 passing for 175 yards with three interceptions — and five dropped passes — responded by leading an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive that made it 30-15 and closed the scoring with 12:04 left.

“I thought Carson had great composure all day, he had four drops to start the game, and it didn’t rattle the kid,” Smart said. “He threw interceptions, it didn’t rattle the kid. The guy is a great player. He takes undue criticism, and all he does is lead our team.”

The final scoring drive of the night featured a 43-yard flea-flicker pass to Oscar Delp, and a fourth-down, 1-yard touchdown run by Trevor Etienne, his third of the night.

“These players get the best out of me, and I’m so proud of these guys because nobody believed, nobody gave us a chance,” Smart said. “Nobody believed us, and then they tried to rob us with calls in this place and these guys are so resilient.”

Smart said Georgia’s road games under the lights this season at Kentucky (13-12 win) and Alabama (41-34 loss) factored heavily.

“We won that game at Kentucky and Alabama,” Smart said, “because we didn’t flinch when you could have flinched.”

Georgia is off next week before playing Florida in Jacksonville.

“This is another win in the SEC, and we have another one coming down the road in two weeks,” Smart said. “This group, they are so resilient, they played so physical.

“We played complimentary football, what Thor (punter Brett Thorson) did was incredible, he pinned them down and gave them long fields.”

Thorson punted four times, averaging 54 yards per punt, with Texas losing a cumulative 9 yards on its punt returns.

Georgia outgunned Texas, which No. 7 in the nation in total offense and scoring, by a 283 yards to 259 yards, holding the Longhorns to 2-of-14 on third downs, and stopping them three times on fourth downs.

“Defensively we played well, didn’t give them big plays,” said Smart, whose team gave up only one play longer than 24 yards — a 34-yarder. “Glenn Schumann did a great job, we played some unconventional coverage we had not played and stopped the run.”

Texas had just 29 yards rushing on 27 carries, while Quinn Ewers was 25-of-43 passing for 211 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Arch Manning also played and was 3-of-6 passing for 19 yards.

“Our defense was embarrassed the week before, but we really played really well,” Smart said. “When you play really well and you still get embarrassed, we were able to get their attention and I thought they woke up and played really hard today.”