{"id":462659,"date":"2026-10-11T03:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T03:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462659\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T03:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T03:34:09","slug":"arch-manning-and-texas-have-lingering-questions-but-one-certainty-for-now-they-wont-be-no-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462659\/","title":{"rendered":"Arch Manning and Texas have lingering questions but one certainty for now: They won&#8217;t be No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) heads to the locker room following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry NCAA college football game in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) heads to the locker room following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry NCAA college football game in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)<\/p>\n<p>Sara Diggins\/Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Exp<img alt=\"Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian leaves the field following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry NCAA college football game in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian leaves the field following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry NCAA college football game in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)<\/p>\n<p>Sara Diggins\/Sara Diggins\/The San Antonio Exp<img alt=\"A Texas fan reacts at the end of their team's 27-24 loss to Oklahoma on a last-second field goal in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Dallas.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A Texas fan reacts at the end of their team&#8217;s 27-24 loss to Oklahoma on a last-second field goal in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>Jeffrey McWhorter\/AP Photo\/Jeffrey McWhorter<img alt=\"Oklahoma fans jeer Texas players who leave the field after Oklahoma defeated Texas on a last-second field goal in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Dallas.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofct bgsct block bg-black mnh0px fill\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma fans jeer Texas players who leave the field after Oklahoma defeated Texas on a last-second field goal in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>Jeffrey McWhorter\/AP Photo\/Jeffrey McWhorter<\/p>\n<p>DALLAS (AP) \u2014 Arch Manning made quick work of the few questions he got after throwing two interceptions in Texas&#8217; 27-24 loss to Red River rival Oklahoma on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&amp;template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\" alt=\"\" class=\"x1px y1px vh abs\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Those crucial fourth-quarter picks helped answer one question that lingered through uneven performances by Manning&#8217;s offense in two previous victories: The Longhorns won&#8217;t be No. 1 next week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Texas had already given up a touchdown on special teams with a blocked punt in the end zone, and defensive penalties helped a sputtering Oklahoma offense score its only TD.<\/p>\n<p>Manning&#8217;s first interception was returned 42 yards for a touchdown by Peyton Bowen to give Oklahoma its first lead at 24-17. The second gave the Sooners a chance to get in position for a final-play field goal when Texas was trying to do that exact thing in the final 30 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we&#8217;ve got to do a better job, especially me, not getting loose with the ball,\u201d said Manning, who had three touchdown passes. \u201cI think we beat ourselves a lot tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/sports\/article\/trump-alabama-georgia-game-22468092.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"FILE - President Donald Trump, center, attends the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/sports\/spurs\/article\/wemby-nba-gambling-endorsements-22463498.php\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"The San Antonio Spurs'\u00a0Victor Wembanyama speaks during the team's media day on September 28, 2026 in San Antonio.\" loading=\"lazy\"   style=\"aspect-ratio:3 \/ 2\" class=\"x100 y100 opc bgpc ofcv bgscv block bg-gray200 mnh0px fill\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since a fourth-quarter rally in a 24-23 victory over Ohio State that vaulted the Longhorns to No. 1, they were less than impressive on offense in wins over UTSA (30-6) and Tennessee (20-17).<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>And yet, after each win, even amid questions of whether Texas should stay atop the poll, the first-place votes rose both times. The Longhorns most assuredly won&#8217;t be at the top of any ballots after Oklahoma gave the unranked team a 5-3 record against a ranked opponent in a series that has been played 122 times.<\/p>\n<p>Along with that, the Sooners made it consecutive years for a two-loss team to hand the other its first defeat. Last year, Texas did that to Oklahoma \u2014 when the Longhorns were unranked and the Sooners were No. 6.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe competitive spirit is what gives me confidence,\u201d Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. \u201cWe&#8217;ll get up off the mat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Besides the interceptions from Manning, which tied his career high, Texas turned a rusher loose right up the middle on the blocked punt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Sarkisian wants more takeaways from the defense, and the one the Longhorns did get was erased by a penalty for roughing the passer. Rasheem Biles hit receiver Isaiah Sategna III in the head just after Sategna released the throw and Bo Mascoe intercepted it.<\/p>\n<p>The Sooners scored their only offensive touchdown five plays later \u2014 after Kade Phillips was called for pass interference in the end zone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy frustration with the penalties is exactly that, I&#8217;m frustrated,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cBecause we\u2019re working at it. It\u2019s not for lack of effort. But clearly it hasn&#8217;t been good enough, and so we\u2019ve got to continue to strive for better. I&#8217;m not saying perfection. I&#8217;m just striving for better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the 2-minute timeout in the fourth quarter, Sarkisian chose a 53-yard field goal attempt from Gianni Spetic over going for it on fourth-and-2. The coach said he didn&#8217;t feel strongly about any play call, and was thinking about OU stops in a couple of other short-yardage situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>The Longhorns then forced Oklahoma&#8217;s seventh three-and-out \u2014 Texas had that many as well \u2014 and were on the edge of field goal range when Manning got immediate pressure and threw toward the sideline.<\/p>\n<p>Sarkisian said he thought Manning would probably want back the throw on Bowen&#8217;s pick-6, but credited Courtland Guillory for making the play on the second interception.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Arch competed his tail off, and he made some tremendous plays,\u201d Sarkisian said. \u201cI thought there was a level of confidence, consistency and rhythm in which he was throwing the ball. We\u2019ve got to continue to run the ball better so it\u2019s not all on his shoulders of when he\u2019s got to throw it to go make all these plays for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"uiTextSmall f aic jcc\">Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP\u2019s full college football coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) heads to the locker room following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[152826,50070,157938,202,102197,196,61343,942,82,84,83,3231,27,157950],"class_list":["post-462659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-gianni-spetic","tag-isaiah-sategna-iii","tag-kade-phillips","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-peyton-bowen","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-40807-ap-oklahoma-sports-only","tag-product-40815-ap-texas-sports-only","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas","tag-texas-oklahoma-no-1-upset"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462659","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=462659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}