The No. 20 Texas Longhorns will look to keep their College Football Playoff hopes when they host the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores in Austin.
This marks the first SEC home game of the season for the Longhorns, who have not played at home since Sept. 20 against Sam Houston. Texas has been playing away from home since then, suffering the SEC-opening loss to the Florida Gators on Oct. 4 before the three-game winning streak that included victories over the Oklahoma Sooners, Kentucky Wildcats and Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Fortunately for the Longhorns, they will have starting quarterback Arch Manning at the helm after he was removed from the injury report Friday night. He recovered in time from the concussion he suffered against Mississippi State, an injury that occured on the first play of overtime.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning passes the ball during the fourth quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Texas will now be faced with arguably its toughest test yet up to this point in the SEC schedule, with matchups against No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Texas A&M still to come. Despite the Longhorns’ struggles this season, they still control their own destiny to the College Football Playoff and potentially the SEC Championship.
However, they will have to first contain Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who is the second-leading rusher among SEC quarterbacks (458 rushing yards) this season while adding five rushing touchdowns. He’s gone 139 of 202 passing for 1,698 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
“He’s versatile,” Texas defensive lineman Hero Kanu said of Pavia. “He can run the ball, but he can also pass it, but also very confident in his game. You know, he knows when to take the ball for himself and when not to. I think he makes great decisions on the field. He can play option plays. He can run QB counters, QB lead zone, stuff like that. QB draw is very dangerous, so his game is just very broad.”
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian added to this praise of Pavia, calling him “one of the more competitive players” he’s coached against.
“Obviously, the quarterback is the tip of the spear,” Sarkisian said. “He’s one of the more competitive players that I’ve competed against. He’s their leading rusher. He obviously passes the ball; he makes plays at critical moments when they need to have it. And so he’s a guy that you know, he’s getting all the praise that he’s getting is well deserved. He’s a very good football player.”
Texas and Vanderbilt will kickoff from Austin at 11 a.m. CT on ABC.
Follow below for live updates of the game once kickoff gets underway.
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