{"id":62088,"date":"2025-11-23T22:43:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T22:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/62088\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T22:43:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T22:43:29","slug":"horns-havent-let-go-of-the-cfp-dream-after-arkansas-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/62088\/","title":{"rendered":"Horns haven’t let go of the CFP dream after Arkansas shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quarterback Arch Manning<\/a> played like an All-American \u00a0and the defense stiffened late to check off the Arkansas box.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s 52-37 win over the last-place Razorbacks wasn’t nearly as easy for a defense that was missing linebacker Anthony Hill, Jr. who was out with a hand injury. Manning out-dueled electric Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green and accounted for six touchdowns, becoming the first SEC player since South Carolina’s Pharoh Cooper in 2014 to have a rushing, receiving and passing touchdown in the same game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s not easy when you get knocked down and have to get off the mat,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “You have to keep fighting.”<\/p>\n

The good news is the No. 17 Longhorns, at 8-3 overall and 5-2 in league play, are at least mathematically still alive for one of those 12 coveted spots though the stars, constellations, galaxies and alternate universities would have to align for the Horns to finish in the top 10, which is appears to be the only route if the ACC and Group of Four teams finish outside the top 12. Miami, which topped Virginia Tech 34-17, was ranked No. 13 last week.<\/p>\n

Yeah, I didn\u2019t stuffer. Coach Bill Parcells always said you are what your record says but the Hogs can point out that despite losing their last eight coming in, five of those were by three points or less. That is, until the Horns shut things down after Green left with an apparent leg injury midway through the third quarter. Arkansas scored late but it was a defense with some backups as\u00a0Sark pulled his starters with the short week to prepare for the Aggies.<\/p>\n

Unlike most other SEC teams that feasted on (yawn)\u00a0Creampuff Saturday opponents as is the tradition late in the season, Steve Sarkisian and the Horns were tasked with having to get past the best 2-8 team in the country.<\/p>\n

Texas is hoping against hope but the Horns gave themselves a slugger\u2019s chance to put pressure on the\u00a0CFP selection committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the Longhorns look ahead to the regular season finale at home against the surging\u00a0Aggies with Hill expected back, Texas is seeking to to become the second three-loss team to advance to the College Football Playoff \u2014 but the Clemson Tigers had the advantage of advancing to the ACC title game with a 9-3 team before taking out SMU to punch their playoff ticket where they promptly got rolled in\u00a0DKR.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Cedric Golden\u2019s new newsletter <\/a>for hot takes and expert analysis each Tuesday on Texas Longhorns football and beyond. \u00a0It’s called Ced\u2019s Corner, from the mind of the American-Statesman\u2019s resident sports columnist.<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s left now is to beat the Aggies, who are the picture of confidence. After rallying from a 30-3 halftime deficit to beat South Carolina for the largest comeback in school history last week, the Aggies cut Samford a $550,000 check then slammed the 1-10 Samford Bulldogs 48-0, in a controlled scrimmage at Kyle Field.<\/p>\n

History will be made either way on Friday. The Aggies can finish unbeaten and untied or the first time since winning the national title in 1939 or the Horns can possibly knock them out of the SEC title chase.<\/p>\n

There’s much more on the line than pride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quarterback Arch Manning played like an All-American \u00a0and the defense stiffened late to check off the Arkansas box.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3230,263,132,134,133,11511,262,32758,3231,537,536],"class_list":["post-62088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-arch-manning","tag-arkansas-razorbacks-football","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-cedric-golden","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-colum","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-longhorns-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62088","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=62088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}