The No. 8 Texas Longhorns did to the Sam Houston State Bearkats what you hope elite teams do to outmatched opponents — they blew them out of the water from opening kick to final whistle. After the offensive struggles of the first three weeks, Texas needed a “get right” game before heading into the bye and SEC play in two weeks. The Bearkats afforded them just that in the lopsided matchup.
Arch Manning: 18/21 (86%), 309 yards, 3 TDs, 5 car, 11 yards, 2 TD s
Texas fans hoped to see Arch Manning rebound by looking nearly untouchable, and he did just that. After missing
on his first passing attempt to running back Jerrick Gibson, Manning completed four consecutive throws to move the offense down the field and set up a Gibson rushing touchdown to cap off the opening drive, the first touchdown on an opening drive for the Horns since the Peach Bowl.
Manning’s next incompletion, the second pass of the next drive, was his final one of the game, with 3:10 left in the first quarter, as the Texas quarterback completed his final 13 attempts of the game, a streak that included three touchdown passes to equal his number of incompletions on the day.
While the ability to complete the easy throws was a welcome sight for the Longhorns, Manning’s connections on the deep ball is truly what separates him from other quarterbacks, which was finally on display in this contest. A week after attempting just two passes longer than 15 yards, Manning completed all five of his attempts against Sam Houston for 154 yards, three of which came in the middle of the field.
Manning becomes the first quarterback since Sam Ehlinger in 2020 to finish a game with at least two passing and two rushing contest, putting himself among elite company. There are just four Texas quarterbacks in the last 25 years to finish with at least two rushing and two passing touchdowns: Ehlinger, Colt McCoy, and Vince Young.
Texas 3rd Downs: 7/11 (63.6%)
One of the continued issues during the Sarkisian era is the struggles on third downs regardless of opponent. Saturday marked the highest conversion percentage for Texas since October 8, 2022, the 49-0 win over Oklahoma, one of just three times in the last four years that the offense has converted more than 60 percent of its third-down attempts. When you break it down by unit, the Texas starting offense converted on four of its five attempts, including the first four to start the game. Their lone miss was a 3rd and 7 in the second quarter, which forced Texas to kick a field goal in the red zone.
Texas did a much better job of putting itself in a good position to convert this week, averaging 8.6 yards per play on first downs, compared to 4.5 yards per play against UTEP. They turned that into 7-of-8 conversions shorter than 10 yards, the lone miss coming on the aforementioned sack, a total that includes a perfect 5-of-5 on attempts of four yards and shorter.
Texas: 9 penalties, 60 yards
While the Longhorns looked significantly better in most areas against Bearkats, Texas still struggled with penalties. Sarkisian’s group has been the more penalized team in every game this year, both in the number of penalties and penalty yardage assessed. Perhaps the biggest struggle for Texas is that the offense and defense have taken turns on which unit is “leading” the charge on penalties. In a bright spot for the season, the Texas defense went more than three quarters before granting a free first down via penalty, something they’ve done eight times this season — four of which came against UTEP a week ago.
The starting offensive line accounted for four of the Longhorns’ nine penalties for 35 yards — two holding calls and two false starts — all of which came on first and second downs. While Texas was able to overcome those setbacks due to the talent discrepancy between the two squads, against better opponents, like Ohio State showed, they could be deadly for the offense.
