AUSTIN, Texas — When Texas stared down a 17-point deficit going into the fourth quarter at Mississippi State on Oct. 25, its season hung by a thread.
Many of the struggles that took Texas to the brink fell on the shoulders of its offense, a unit equipped with a talented young quarterback who carried enormous expectations, plus a host of other blue-chip recruits and impact transfers. Fan frustrations came to a head as the Longhorns sputtered and leaned heavily on their defense in wins over Oklahoma and Kentucky, to the point that some questioned whether coach Steve Sarkisian — widely regarded by his peers as one of the top offensive minds in the game — should still call the plays.
But something happened in the fourth quarter and overtime in Starkville, Miss., and it carried over to Texas’ 34-31 win Saturday over No. 9 Vanderbilt. Arch Manning and the Texas offense came alive.
After struggling for large portions of September and October, the Longhorns offense may have finally figured things out. And it’s just in time, because Texas has its toughest stretch of the year coming up.
“I think our offense is starting to click a little bit,” Manning said. “We’ve got to continue to press and finish games, but proud of how we played.”
Manning, who made his 11th career start, had one of his best performances and finished with more than 300 passing yards and three touchdowns for the second consecutive game. A week after suffering a concussion, Manning was sharp on Saturday. He was decisive in the pocket, got the ball out of his hand quickly and saw the field well while going through progressions.
Enabling that performance was an offensive line that performed better than it has all season. Manning wasn’t sacked and was pressured on only six of 34 dropbacks on Saturday, according to TruMedia. That 17.6 percent pressure rate was by far a season low for a unit that had allowed Manning to be pressured on 41.9 percent of dropbacks in the first eight games of the season.
“This was the best protection he’s gotten all year,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian credited the decision to move Cole Hutson, who started five of the first six games at center this year, to left guard upon his return from injury. Conner Robertson, who started at center in Hutson’s place, remained there. That gave the interior offensive line an experienced trio, joining right guard DJ Campbell, the lone returning starter from 2024’s offensive line. It unlocked a performance up front that Texas sorely needed after a rough start to the year.
“Proud of that offensive line,” Sarkisian said. “You’re not a finished product in September and October, we can continue to improve and that group is an example of that; they’re getting better.”
Improved line play helped, but Manning played a role in the minimized pressure, too.
“Arch, to his credit, helped them,” Sarkisian said. “He did some things in protection to pick some things up to allow us to throw it down the field. It allowed him to get through reads. When you can get to your second and third reads in a progression, that means your protection is pretty good.”
WINGO GOT WHEELS 💨‼️ pic.twitter.com/2jGA7HiPvJ
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) November 1, 2025
Sarkisian’s game plan and adjustments also contributed to Saturday’s success. Easy, short throws, like the swing pass Manning made to Ryan Wingo that the receiver took for 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, made the quarterback’s life easier.
Yards after contact also bolstered the efforts, as Vanderbilt struggled to tackle the Longhorns. On running back Quintrevion Wisner’s first carry of the game, he was hit about 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage but stayed on his feet and gained 13. Wingo evaded a pair of arm tackles on his way to the end zone, too. As a result, Sarkisian mixed in more 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three receivers) than originally planned.
Texas utilized 11 personnel on 66.7 percent of offensive snaps per TruMedia, only the third time all season the Longhorns have been in 11 more than 65 percent of the time.
“When the ball got on the perimeter early in the game, they had a hard time tackling our guys. Our guys were playing fast in space,” Sarkisian said. “So I kind of shifted even more in that direction. It was part of the plan, but it became a real part of the plan once I realized they were having a hard time getting us on the ground.”
The run game, which has been hit-or-miss this season, showed some progress. It wasn’t spectacular, but Texas finished with 100 yards after totaling just 119 in the previous two games combined. Wisner, who finished 75 yards, gave Texas just enough run presence to take some pressure off the passing game.
That Texas’ strong showing Saturday came on the heels of a strong finish the previous week is encouraging. Before Texas went to Mississippi State, the Longhorns’ offense was averaging 2.1 points per drive, which ranked 88th in the FBS. Texas scored on just 37.6 percent of its possessions (82nd) and was also below average on third-down conversions (38.1 percent, 89th).
But since starting a drive trailing Mississippi State 31-14 with 26 seconds left in the third quarter last week, the Longhorns have been night-and-day different offensively.
Texas is averaging 3.8 points per drive over its last 15 possessions, a rate that would be roughly on par with the nation’s top offenses if sustained (USC and Indiana entered the weekend leading the FBS with 3.7 points per drive for the entire season). And that run includes three end-of-half possessions where the Longhorns ran out the clock twice and attempted a Hail Mary on the other.
Exclude those, and Texas has scored on 10 of its last 12 true drives, with a missed field goal and a punt in the fourth quarter on Saturday against the Commodores being the lone empty possessions.
Including the fourth quarter at Mississippi State, these are the results of Texas’ past 15 possessions:
Touchdown
Touchdown
Field goal
End of half
Touchdown
Touchdown
Field goal
Touchdown
Touchdown
End of half
Touchdown
Field goal
Missed field goal
Punt
End of game
Sarkisian attributes the success to growth across the board, from younger players improving to the transfers settling into the roles better to getting key players healthy.
“I could feel early in the season that we weren’t very mature yet offensively,” Sarkisian said. “We weren’t mature enough at quarterback. And that’s fair and Arch will tell you that. And where he is today is not where he was a month ago. We’re a lot more mature on the offensive line. We’re a lot more mature at running back with (Wisner) and Cedric (Baxter) back.”
Flipping into the endzone 🙃🤘 pic.twitter.com/zaoOUmJcTz
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) November 1, 2025
Sarkisian admittedly leaned on his defense early this season while the offense battled through its issues. But now he’s willing to approach games differently.
“We shifted from, ‘Hey, let’s try to slow things down, let’s play to our defense, they’re the strength of our team,’ to now we need to be more in attack mode offensively,” Sarkisian said. “I thought we did that (Saturday).”
Manning raising his level of play of late has mattered. His decisions have been better, as he’s checking the ball down at times rather than forcing it, changing protections when necessary and managing the game.
“I do think he’s grown up,” Sarkisian said. “He just looks so much more mature. He looks so much more poised. He looks so much more confident. And he’s got a lot more trust in those guys around him. I think that continuity of playing with them more and more and more (matters).”
There were points this season when it was easy to wonder whether Texas would ever figure it out this year. We’ll have to wait another two weeks for the next stress test, as the Longhorns travel to Georgia on Nov. 15 following an off week.
But in the past five-plus quarters, the Texas offense has taken major steps forward. And if the Longhorns can sustain that and pair it with their elite defense and game-changing special teams, they can very much make this a November to remember as they pursue a College Football Playoff berth.
“(November) is when we need to be at our best,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re growing and getting better as a team.”