Down 38-14 early in the fourth quarter, Texas staged one of the college football season’s more improbable rallies Saturday, scoring 31 unanswered points and squeezing past Mississippi State 45-38 in overtime.
Arch Manning, who sparked the comeback with a late-game burst, had his best stat line of the year (29 of 46, 346 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, plus a rushing TD) but did not finish the overtime possession after sustaining a head blow and entering concussion protocol; Matthew Caldwell finished the drive and connected with Emmett Mosley V for the OT score.
Mississippi State dominated large chunks of the game, piling up 445 total yards and building a 24-point lead midway through the fourth, but Texas ultimately answered with a mixture of short-area throws and timely defensive stops, led by Ryan Wingo’s explosive receiving day (184 receiving yards).
After the game, popular college football analyst David Pollack gave Manning and the Longhorns their flowers on an episode of the “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack” podcast.
“How about Texas? My goodness, they’ve been on the road for 42 days now. They haven’t been home… Mississippi State kind of doing what they wanted to, how they wanted, what they wanted, throwing the ball all over the yard. Looked like they had no shot. And then Texas and Arch (Manning) slowly dinked their way back into it.”
“Arch ends up, first of all, down in the fourth quarter, and Texas rattles off 24 straight to win this football game. Arch making plays, the defense came up with stops. It was not pretty at all whatsoever. But Texas comes back with 24 unanswered, wins in OT. And so they’ll be happy to be home.”
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Manning’s season to date has shown both flashes and flaws.
Through eight games, he’s accumulated 1,795 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns and six interceptions, along with 199 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
He’s had four games with at least 250 passing yards and three or more touchdowns, but he’s had just as many games with under 200 passing yards and multiple turnovers, including a two-interception, 29-21 loss to Florida on Oct. 4.
His inefficiency (just a 60.9% completion rate) and high turnover rate have raised questions all season, especially given the pre-season hype tied to his name and recruiting profile, coming into the year as one of the Heisman Trophy favorites.
However, his latest performance might have done enough to quiet some of the noise.
Saturday’s victory moves the Longhorns to 6-2 (3-1 in the SEC) and preserves momentum heading into a home date with Vanderbilt (7-1) next Saturday.
After Vanderbilt, Texas travels back on the road to face Georgia (6-1) before home dates against Arkansas (2-6) and Texas A&M (8-0), a critical stretch for the Longhorns that will determine playoff eligibility.