The Texas Longhorns can once again breathe a sigh of relief, this time on the other side of the coin, after surviving a potentially dramatic comeback. Instead of being the ones storming back like they did in Starkville, the Longhorns had to withstand a run, hanging on to defeat the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores 34-31 in a commanding performance.
Texas gets to take its big win against the Commodores into a week of rest, as the Longhorns head into their second bye week of the season this upcoming weekend. However, Texas will have to be ready coming out of the break, taking on the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs in Athens in two weeks.
Taking a closer look at the Longhorns after their strong showing at home, here are this week’s position group grades.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) runs the ball during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. / Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
Saturday was undoubtedly quarterback Arch Manning’s best performance in a Longhorns uniform. After a week of uncertainty with the signal caller in concussion protocol, the quarterback came out firing against the Commodores. Manning finished the game 25 of 33 passing for 328 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
After a rough outing against Kentucky and the first three quarters against Mississippi State, Manning was in control from start to finish. Starting with a quick hitter to wide receiver Ryan Wingo going 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game, to capping off an 11-play 93-yard drive with a passing touchdown to Emmett Mosley V in the third quarter.
The Longhorns’ ground game has received plenty of criticism throughout the season, and while Saturday’s showing from the running backs won’t blow anyone away, Texas was able to find a rhythm on the ground.
Finishing the game with exactly 100 yards on 27 attempts, while averaging almost four yards a carry, and leading running back Quintrevion Wisner got rolling, totaling 75 yards on 18 attempts and a touchdown while averaging over four yards per carry.
With Manning completing about 75 percent of his pass attempts on the afternoon, it’s not surprising to see the Longhorns’ pass catchers get involved in droves, with 10 different Texas wide receivers, tight ends, and even running backs getting involved in the passing game.
Ryan Wingo was the Longhorns’ leading receiver with two receptions for 89 yards and the long touchdown catch and run from the first play from scrimmage. Emmett Mosley V continues to grow into a big piece of the Texas passing offense, leading the team in receptions with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. Also getting involved was running back CJ Baxter, who, with just one catch for six yards, found the end zone for the first time in 670 days.
The Texas offensive line had its best performance all season, with one slight change to the starting five, with a returning Cole Hutson being inserted at right guard, and keeping Connor Robertson at center. The changes played out the Longhorns’ benefit with the offensive line keeping Manning upright all game, not surrendering a sack, and giving up just a single tackle-for-loss to the Commodores.
While the Longhorns’ defense had its woes in the final quarter, giving up 21 points and making the game a lot closer than it had to be, that doesn’t take away from the game-changing performance the defense had, especially from the front seven.
Texas got incredible pressure on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, getting him on the ground six times on the afternoon, with the edge rusher playing a big part. With Colin Simmons, who had five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a sack fumble, which the sophomore recovered himself, and Ethan Burke, who had three tackles for loss and two sacks.
On the backend was where the Longhorns defense struggled with Pavia finishing the game completing 27 of his 38 pass attempts for 365 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions, with heavily featured tight end Eli Stowers ending the game with seven receptions for 146 yards and two scores.
While it was mostly business as usual for the Longhorns’ special teams units, with punter Jack Bouwmeester only needing to punt once and punt returner Ryan Niblett not given a chance to make an impact, only getting one punt return opportunity, which he took for 12 yards. And kicker Mason Shipley was perfect on extra points, but did miss a long 51-yard attempt to be two out of three on field goal attempts.