The No. 1 Texas Longhorns didn’t look their best in the 30-6 win against the UTSA Roadrunners in Austin on Saturday, a week after starting slow against the Ohio State Buckeyes and needing a furious fourth quarter to get the job done. I don’t think anyone on the team or coaching staff would say that this is one to write home about, but it’s better to win ugly than lose ugly, which is what Texas can say about Saturday.
UTSA offense: 143 yards (73 rushing, 70 passing)
The biggest positive from the game against UTSA is the defense doing its part, bullying
an outmatched opponent, and holding them in check. The 70 passing yards allowed against UTSA are the fewest since the 2022 season, when they gave up just 39 to Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown. That game is notable because Oklahoma did not have starter Dillon Gabriel available and leaned on Davis Beville and a bevy of skill players to fill the role.
UTSA quarterback Owen McCown did not complete consecutive passes until the 13:40 mark in the hirrd quarter, a 12-yard pass to DJ Allen. That was one of just two completions for longer than 10 yards; the other was a 13-yard completion to Brandon High, Jr. on 3rd and 16. It was McCown’s worst performance as a full-time starter and just the second time being held under 100 yards in a contest, after last year’s matchup against North Texas.
The run defense, which struggled at times in previous weeks, shut down the Roadrunners’ ground game, the unit that led them to the come-from-behind victory over the Bobcats a week ago. They managed just 21 yards on the ground in the second half and had 22 percent of their total rushing attempts stopped for no gain or a loss in the contest.
Third-down defense: 1-11
A week after a lot was made of Texas’ struggles on third downs, the Longhorns came out and flexed on a lesser opponent.
After the Roadrunners converted on their first third dowm of the game, a two-yard rush to convert on 3rd and 1, UTSA went 10 straight without converting. It’s the second-best performance on the money down since Steve Sarkisian took over in Austin, second only to the 0-8 performance from 2023 against Kansas – the program’s final year in the Big 12 in which they won the conference title.
While the Longhorns made big plays to end their drives, they put themselves in good position on thid downs, while the Roadrunners couldn’t avoid shooting themselves in the foot. Texas held UTSA to just 3.4 yards per first down and 2.8 rushing yards to start drives, setting them up for eight third-down attempts of nine yards or longer. Adding injury to injury, 10 of UTSA’s 12 penalties came against their offense, three of them coming on third-down attempts.
Arch Manning: 16-32, 161 yards, two TDs
Arch Manning has been consistently inconsistent over the last two games, showing flashes of brilliance combined with periods of struggle, inconsistency that sometimes happens from play to play. Holding onto the ball too long, hesitation to push the ball, and struggles to connect with anything in the middle of the field. Through three games this year, Manning is 13-of-24 passing (54 percent) for 160 yards between the hashes, while completing 64 percent of his passes for anything outside. It’s even worse if you isolate the last two weeks, completing 10-of-21 peses in the middle of the field against Ohio State and UTSA, an abysmal 47.6 percent over the middle.
His receivers haven’t helped him out much, with inability to create separation in the last two contests and dropping passes when they were well-placed. Over the last two contests, Texas has five dropped passes, including the marquee would-be touchdown from Ryan Wingo against Ohio State and the Spencer Shannon drop against UTSA that would have extended a drive against the Roadrunners that eventually ended in a field goal.
