AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 widely regarded by his peers as one of the top offensive minds in the game \u2014 should still call the plays.<\/p>\n
But something happened in the fourth quarter and overtime in Starkville, Miss., and it carried over to Texas\u2019 34-31 win Saturday over No. 9 Vanderbilt<\/a>. Arch Manning and the Texas offense came alive.<\/p>\n After struggling for large portions of September and October, the Longhorns offense may have finally figured things out. And it\u2019s just in time, because Texas has its toughest stretch of the year coming up.<\/p>\n \u201cI think our offense is starting to click a little bit,\u201d Manning said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to continue to press and finish games, but proud of how we played.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Enabling that performance was an offensive line that performed better than it has all season. Manning wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the best protection he\u2019s gotten all year,\u201d Sarkisian said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s place, remained there. That gave the interior offensive line an experienced trio, joining right guard DJ Campbell, the lone returning starter from 2024\u2019s offensive line. It unlocked a performance up front that Texas sorely needed after a rough start to the year.<\/p>\n \u201cProud of that offensive line,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cYou\u2019re not a finished product in September and October, we can continue to improve and that group is an example of that; they\u2019re getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n Improved line play helped, but Manning played a role in the minimized pressure, too.<\/p>\n \u201cArch, to his credit, helped them,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n WINGO GOT WHEELS \ud83d\udca8\u203c\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/2jGA7HiPvJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Texas Football (@TexasFootball) November 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Sarkisian\u2019s game plan and adjustments also contributed to Saturday\u2019s 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\u2019s life easier.<\/p>\n Yards after contact also bolstered the efforts, as Vanderbilt struggled to tackle the Longhorns. On running back Quintrevion Wisner\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen 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,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cSo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The run game, which has been hit-or-miss this season, showed some progress. It wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n That Texas\u2019 strong showing Saturday came on the heels of a strong finish the previous week is encouraging. Before Texas went to Mississippi State, the Longhorns\u2019 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).<\/p>\n But since starting a drive trailing Mississippi State 31-14 with 26 seconds left in the third quarter last week<\/a>, the Longhorns have been night-and-day different offensively.<\/p>\n Texas is averaging 3.8 points per drive over its last 15 possessions, a rate that would be roughly on par with the nation\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Including the fourth quarter at Mississippi State, these are the results of Texas\u2019 past 15 possessions:<\/p>\n Touchdown 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI could feel early in the season that we weren\u2019t very mature yet offensively,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t mature enough at quarterback. And that\u2019s fair and Arch will tell you that. And where he is today is not where he was a month ago. We\u2019re a lot more mature on the offensive line. We\u2019re a lot more mature at running back with (Wisner) and Cedric (Baxter) back.\u201d<\/p>\n Flipping into the endzone \ud83d\ude43\ud83e\udd18 pic.twitter.com\/zaoOUmJcTz<\/a><\/p>\n
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