The No. 17 Texas Longhorns came away with a much-needed lopsided win over the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, highlighting the team’s potential strengths, as well
as some of the glaring weaknesses. With a high-powered Texas A&M team coming to town to close out the regular season, the results offensively are both encouraging and troubling, depending on what you’re looking for.
Arch Manning: 18-30, 389 yards, 4TD, rush TD, rec TD
Eight weeks after being called college football’s first flop, Arch Manning played one of the best games by a Texas quarterback in recent memory. He was hot from the start, completing his first seven passes for 137 yards and a touchdown, 19.6 yards per attempt. Beyond becoming the first player in school history to have a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown in a game, Manning’s 389 passing yards marked the highest total since Quinn Ewers put up 452 yards against Oklahoma State in the 2023 Big 12 Championship. In fact, there have been just five performances better than Manning’s 389 yards in the past 10 years of Texas football.
For what feels like the first time this year, Texas was able to capitalize on Manning’s big arm and push the ball down the field effectively. He completed seven of his 11 attempts longer than 15 yards for 255 yards, compared to just 49 yards on seven attempts a week ago. Manning has feasted a bit on yards after catch in some spots this year, with games like Vanderbilt and Mississippi State featuring 70 percent and 58 percent of his totals coming after the catch, respectively. However, against the Razorbacks, just 40 percent of the yardage came after Manning connected with his receiver.
Texas Pasoing: 19 receptions, 395 yards, 5TDs
The Longhorns’ receivers struggled a week ago against Georgia, but had a breakout game against Arkansas, playing a huge role in Manning’s career night. The pass catchers did a great job creating space and separation, letting Manning drop deep dimes to them, for an average of 20.68 yards per reception. That marks the best outing since Baylor in 2016, when Texas passed for 291 yards on just 12 receptions, a 24.25 ypc pace. They managed to both keep the offense ahead of the chains and convert on the money down, averaging 26.33 yards per reception on first down and converting six of Texas’s eight first downs with catches.
While all of the receivers played well, DeAndre Moore had a career outing for himself, grabbing a touchdown on all three of his receptions, putting himself in elite company. The last receiver to grab three touchdowns in a contest was Xavier Worthy in 2021 against Texas Tech.
Texas rushing: 28 car, 97 yards, TD
In a matchup of a stoppable force and a movable object, the Texas ground game came out on the losing end yet again. The Longhorns’ 97 rushing yards against the Hogs was the second-lowest rushing total of the year for an Arkansas opponent, ahead of Alabama A&M, and the lowest total by an SEC team since South Carolina’s 40 yards in September of 2022. It’s the fifth time this season that the Longhorns have failed to reach 100 rushing yards and the ninth time over the last two years.
Texas continues to get beaten soundly at the point of attack, highlighting the need to improve along the offensive line in the offseason. Texas was 0-of-2 on rushes on which they needed two or fewer yards to convert and stopped for no gain or a loss on five of their 28 rushing attempts. Texas has been stuffed an abysmal 22 percent of their rushing attempts this year, a number that jumps to 25 percent when you isolate SEC opponents.
