A week ago, the Texas Longhorns were seemingly in freefall.
With three minutes left in the game against the Oklahoma Sooners, the Crimson started to leave the Cotton Bowl, and the Longhorns hoisted the Golden Hat for the second-straight year. Texas still has a lot of work to do and has zero margin for error heading into its final six regular-season games, but moving to 4-2 with a blowout win over your rival can put a lot of wind in your sails.
Arch Manning can make big-time throws
It wasn’t the flashiest
day at the office for Arch Manning, but when Texas needed him the most, he was dialed in.
That was perhaps most on display in the fourth quarter, when Texas needed to extend drives to drain the clock and put Oklahoma on the ropes, Manning made huge plays to keep things moving in the right direction. Converted down the sideline for 21 yards to Parker Livingstone, converted to Tre Wisner for 19 on 3rd and 7, and again gained 14 yards on 3rd and 19 to get Texas back into field goal position.
Perhaps the biggest positive for Arch in the game was that he didn’t throw any losing balls in a game where a former Heisman frontrunner threw multiple interceptions and should have thrown a few more. He was still a bit too selective in some of his passes, but he layered the ball well in spots and took advantage of short passes when they were there.
The defense can get after the quarterback
When the Oklahoma offense started to move the ball in the fourth quarter, the defense dialed in and put them behind the chains, stalling the momentum and slamming the door shut on the comeback. Michael Taaffe brought down Mateer on 2nd and 10 with a well-timed blitz, then Colin Simmons beat Michael Fasusi one-on-one to bring him down to set up 4th and 22. On the ensuing play, Mateer was forced to abandon the pocket and throw on the run, a play that went over the head of Jaren Karnak and gave Texas the ball back.
The drive before was no different, with Texas harassing Mateer and the receivers, forcing negative plays and a three-and-out. That three-and-out ended with Ryan Niblett going 75 yards to the house, extending the lead to two touchdowns and seemingly putting the game out of reach. Texas finished the game with six sacks and four hurries in the game, their best of the year.
Texas can get it done on third downs if it avoids negative plays
Texas put itself in solid situations throughout the game, finishing with just six third-down attempts longer than nine yards, a stark difference from a week ago. They converted on 56.3% of their attempts, gaining an average of 10 yards per try. Manning was perhaps most effective on the money down, going 11-12 for 117 yards, with seven of Texas’s third down conversions coming from his right arm.
Texas converted on six consecutive third downs in the third quarter, the first four coming on the opening drive in the half that ended with a touchdown and started the massive second half for the Longhorns.
