AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 No. 1 Texas heads into its first road test of the season Saturday as the Longhorns travel to Tennessee for their first trip to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.<\/p>\n
Texas enters the matchup 3-0 after a 30-6 win over UTSA last week. The Longhorns opened the season with wins over Texas State and Ohio State.<\/p>\n
The two programs have met three times, all at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Tennessee won the first meeting 20-14 in 1951, while Texas won the next two, 16-0 in 1953 and 36-13 in 1969. Texas leads the series 2-1, and Saturday marks the first time the teams have played in Knoxville and the first regular-season meeting between the programs.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Arch Manning enters Saturday with 661 passing yards, seven touchdown passes and 83 rushing yards through three games. Running back Hollywood Smothers has 203 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Raleek Brown has 129 rushing yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Tennessee also enters the matchup 3-0 after wins over Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State. The Volunteers most recently defeated Kennesaw State 42-9.<\/p>\n
Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has accounted for nine total touchdowns through three games, including six passing and three rushing, and has not thrown an interception on 64 attempts. Running back DeSean Bishop has 286 rushing yards, while receiver Mike Matthews has 189 receiving yards.<\/p>\n
With both teams 3-0 entering their first SEC game, the focus now turns to what Texas and Tennessee need to carry forward from their first three games.<\/p>\n
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has discussed Manning\u2019s ability to use his legs when plays break down, but said it should be a last resort rather than the foundation of the offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want him to use his legs when he can, but ideally, we’re in rhythm in the passing game when the ball’s coming out, and we’re calling things where he can get completions, and he’s throwing it accurately, and guys are making plays and catching the ball. And then his legs can be the last resort, the weapon to get us out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel has pointed to Texas\u2019 experience, including Manning\u2019s command of the offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas is obviously battle-tested, a very veteran group,\u201d Heupel said.<\/p>\n
Heupel said Manning has shown poise through Texas\u2019 first three games.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmart. He has really good command and control of what\u2019s going on,\u201d Heupel said.<\/p>\n
For Texas, the trip to Knoxville brings its first road test of the season and a new setting against an SEC opponent. The stakes are high for both teams, but for Texas, it is about remaining No. 1 and holding onto the top spot in the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 No. 1 Texas heads into its first road test of the season Saturday as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-448481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}