Texas pulls off slick trick play against Lane Kiffin, using Arch Manning as decoy

BATON ROUGE, LA – Steve Sarkisian went into his bag and pulled out a trick play. It worked. Texas faced 4th-and-1 from its own 45-yard line in the second quarter of its game against LSU when Sarkisian kept his offense on the field and put Arch Manning under center. Quarterback sneak upcoming? Nope.

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What is the story about?

BATON ROUGE, LA – Steve Sarkisian went into his bag and pulled out a trick play.

It worked.

Texas faced 4th-and-1 from its own 45-yard line in the second quarter of its game against LSU when Sarkisian kept his offense on the field and put Arch Manning under center.

Quarterback sneak upcoming?

Nope.

Texas used Arch as a decoy and snapped the ball straight through the quarterback's legs for a direct snap into tailback Raleek Brown's hands.

Manning plunged forward, acting as if he had the ball while Brown ran into open space.

Nifty bit of strategy.

It paid off.

An old Sarkisian special 🤘

Raleek Brown takes the direct snap through Manning's legs @InsideTexas pic.twitter.com/pgVf0qeBHH
— Nash (@NashTalksTexas) November 15, 2026

Sarkisian is good friends with LSU coach Lane Kiffin, but if his pal saw

this trick play coming, he could do nothing to stop it.

Brown gained six yards on a run off right tackle to move the chains, and Texas came away with a field goal on the drive to cut LSU's first-half lead to 14-10 in a critical game at Tiger Stadium.

A loss for LSU would eliminate the Tigers from the playoff picture.

Texas probably can afford one more loss, but dropping this game on the road would remove the Longhorns' cushion going into the final two weeks of the season.

If the Longhorns need a few tricks to pull this one off, Sarkisian seems willing to roll the dice.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas pulls off slick trick play against Lane Kiffin, using Arch Manning as decoy