I’m not sure how we got here, but we are here now.
Full disclosure — I just had to hit delete on a large chunk of my write-up after what I just witnessed from this Texas team in Starkville. Fully had my take on the Texas offense and the team in general, ready to go and go out to my good readers. Then the fourth quarter started, and it was like we did a hit of acid mixed in with a line of the finest yayo you could get your hands on.
I have never seen a game swing from one end of the spectrum to the other the way I saw this game in Starkville go in the fourth quarter. This Texas team as a whole looked DOA and was on the ropes after allowing 24 unanswered points. I was getting plenty of tweets off about it in real-time and eventually had to walk them back.
Yikes. Not my finest moment on the Tweeter, but none of us are perfect, right?
This game shaved years off of a lot of lives. I can imagine a ton of moonshine was consumed in Starkville after this one played out. Texas is somehow still alive in the grand scheme of things. That is all that matters at the moment.
Let’s get to the observations from this wild-ass comeback against the Bulldogs — a 45-38 overtime victory by Texas during which the win expectancy reached 98.6 percent in favor of Mississippi State.
The Texas offense was a magic school bus ride in this one
Brothers and sisters. It was not a pretty sight early on in this game. For most of this game, it was more of the same from the Texas offense. Couldn’t protect Arch Manning. Couldn’t run the football with Tre Wisner and CJ Baxter. Couldn’t sustain drives. It was incredibly ugly.
Mississippi State’s defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler (a former Texas assistant under Tom Herman) was dialing up pressures early and often, and the Texas offensive line absolutely was not earning the keep once again when it came to keeping defenders out of their backfield. State’s defense tallied 12 tackles for loss and five sacks on the contest, so it was a very rough game up front, which has become a theme throughout the season. Wisner and Baxter were both non-factors in the run game, as they totaled 68 yards together on the ground on 21 carries, 3.2 yards per carry. It is a byproduct of the offensive line, but it was another forgettable day for the Texas running back room.
Texas totaled 14 American football points through three quarters, which included a large goose egg in the third quarter after getting the ball coming out of the locker room.
Then the fourth quarter happened, and the entire script of the game was flipped right on its head. I don’t know what happened in the offensive huddle and on the headsets, but the fourth quarter was a completely different game from the rest. The Texas offense went from totaling only 88 yards and zero points in the third quarter to tallying 24 points and 180 yards of offense in the final frame. It was like watching a completely different team operate in the fourth and in overtime. The pressure State was dialing up defensively was now getting blocked up and protected by the offensive line. Manning was getting time to operate and was hitting throws down the field and suddenly the Texas offense was cooking.
Wide receiver Ryan Wingo was huge in this game, but more on him in a minute. I honestly don’t know what flipped in the brains of the Texas players and coaches, but it was like they all of a sudden had the light bulb go off for them once they got down 17 and their backs were against the wall.
I said on Twitter that they would essentially need to play the perfect fourth quarter if they wanted any shot at winning the game, and that was exactly what happened. Outscoring your opponent 24-7 in the final frame with a huge play on special teams is exactly how you flip the script and send the game the overtime.
Manning had a big day and once again never stopped plugging away even when things looked dire. He rolled up 346 yards through the air along with three touchdowns to one interception that I don’t put on him. He also ran in another score to make it four total scores on the night. Biggest thing coming out of this game for Arch is obviously his health, as it looked like he may have been concussed in overtime. That will be something to monitor next week.
I am going to be very honest. I was prepared to hand this entire offense its head on a platter with how the first three quarters went. Then they played their best and grittiest football of the season in the final frame and overtime. I have no idea what clicked for them, but I hope like hell they can find a way to bottle it up and use it over the rest of the season.
The Texas defense was like Rocky Balboa in Starkville
How many times did we watch Rocky get beat up only for him to find a way to come out on top in the end? That was exactly how the Longhorns defense was against the Bulldogs on Saturday.
The Texas got tuned up pretty good in this one — 38 points and 445 yards of total offense allowed, with the majority of the yards allowed coming through the air. Blake Shapen has never been that good of a quarterback in my eyes, but he absolutely shredded Texas in this one and had a career day with 381 passing yards and four touchdowns to zero interceptions.
Texas must have really missed having Michael Taaffe out there, because receivers were running free far too often and overall soundness against the pass just wasn’t great. On top of that, the defensive front was unable to get consistent pressure on Shapen despite doing a pretty good job of shutting down the run game.
So, about that Rocky reference. After the Texas defense allowed 31 points through the first three quarters of the game, they clamped things down late and only allowed seven in the fourth quarter and overtime combined. They also held the Bulldog offense to only 100 yards in the final quarter of regulation before not surrendering a point or a yard during their only overtime possession.
This group took a horrible licking during the first three quarters of this game. But when it mattered most down the home stretch, they found themselves and got some key stops and made some big plays to help Texas complete the comeback.
The Texas defense gave up a bunch of yards and points, but they also created a bunch of havoc plays on Saturday. They were credited with seven sacks and nine tackles for loss during the contest and none of the sacks were credited to Colin Simmons despite him absolutely shredding the past couple weeks. Defensive MVP of this game? Anthony Hill absolutely stuffed the stat sheet: 10 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 3.5 TFLs. Monster. NFL is on deck for him after likely stacking some more hardware on the way out the door.
Talk about a dude who is on a heater. Ryan Niblett has turned into an absolute weapon for the Texas special teams unit, as he has now made game-changing plays three weeks in a row. Against Oklahoma, he sealed it with the big touchdown return. Against Kentucky, he just missed another touchdown return and set up the Texas offense twice for scoring drives. And on Saturday, he went to the crib again and tied the game in the final minutes of regulation.
If teams have not received the memo about kicking to him yet, then they probably have it now. Niblett could very well earn All-American honors as a specialist this year with the way he has been performing. Great story and a great kid who has shown he will do whatever he needs to for the team in a very fluid role on offense.
Ryan Wingo’s performance was a rollercoaster ride
This was Ryan Wingo’s best game as a Longhorn, but it was also one that was a bit frustrating.
First, he opened the game with this massive catch and run:
Then there was this catch and run:
Then there was this one late in the game on a dime from Manning:
Wingo was a walking explosive play in this game, as he totaled 184 yards on five receptions. So what made it such a rollercoaster ride? The freaking drops, man. As big of a playmaker Wingo was on Saturday, he left even more out there on the field simply because he couldn’t reel in some passes that were right on his hands. The biggest one I remember was the one in the red zone after he came in motion on third down. He was wide open after coming in motion on a quick pass from Manning. He would have had a good chance at scoring if catches it cleanly and gets upfield. Instead it hits right off his hands for an incompletion and Texas had to settle for a field goal.
As good Wingo was in this game, he needs to be a more consistent hands catcher if he truly wants to take things to the next level. Those kinds of drops derail drives and can cost you games. Clean that up, young fella.
Build Matthew Caldwell a statue tomorrow
What a legendary moment for this kid. Caldwell comes off the bench absolutely cold in the biggest moment of the game and drops in an absolute DIME to Mosley to win the freaking game. This dude has never flinched when he has been inserted into the game. Remember the ball he threw in The Swamp late in the game when Manning had to come out? Remember the long run he ripped off weeks ago against Sam Houston when he got to operate the offense in garbage time? Caldwell just goes out there is plays ball regardless of the situation and this moment was too big for him at all. Stepped in like a veteran and just let it rip.
He is not going to go down in the history books by any stretch, but this dude should not pay for his drinks for however long he remains in Austin for that one play alone.
Well, on one hand, you found a way to engineer one hell of a comeback win on the road in a hostile environment. On the other hand, you gave up a ton of points and yards and you also got your starting quarterback banged up at the end of the game. That is a pretty tall price you had to pay for victory, but it was still a victory.
Things do not get any easier next week, with a very good and stout Vanderbilt team rolling into Austin next week. They are coming off a tight win against Mizzou in Nashville and they will be looking to get some payback for last year’s game where they came up short against Texas.
This wasn’t always a fun one to watch, but the comeback was sure enjoyable and sweet to watch unfold. Enjoy the weekend, but come Monday it is time to flush it and lock in and anchor down against the Commadores.
The 24-hour rule is officially in effect. Here comes Diego Pavia.