Arch Manning kept Texas alive in the College Football Playoff race with a big-time road performance in Columbia.
Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, and his go-ahead strike to Raleek Brown with a little more than five minutes left sent No. 10 Texas past No.
19 Missouri 34-20 on Saturday. Brown did more damage than just that catch, adding 85 rushing yards and a late clinching touchdown as the Longhorns improved to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, with their No.
7 CFP ranking still in play.
Texas also got the kind of fourth-quarter defense that turns a close game into a survival test. The Longhorns made a series of key stops down the stretch, including the biggest one of all when Missouri had a chance to answer Brown’s touchdown.
The Tigers moved near midfield with about two minutes left, but Jamal Roberts was stopped for a short gain and Austin Simmons followed with an incompletion. On third down, Simmons looked for Cayden Lee, only for the pass to be knocked into the air at the catch point. Texas cornerback Graceson Littleton came away with the interception, and Brown finished the job moments later by powering into the end zone.
“Anybody can play good football when it's easy. How do you play it when it's hard?”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We had some guys go through some hard moments today, and we didn't give up on them, and they went out and competed some more.”
“Adversity was going to strike and we needed to hang together,” Sarkisian said. “We needed to be mentally tough.”
Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons finished with 252 passing yards and two touchdowns, with much of that production coming on a 75-yard scoring strike to Naeshaun Montgomery. Roberts, the SEC’s leading rusher, was held to 66 yards on the ground.
“They made the plays when they needed to in order to win the game,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “and ultimately we did not, and that's what it came down to. Didn't come down to officials.
Didn't come to reviews. It came down to the opportunities we had.”
The game had a little extra edge because it was the first meeting between the old Big 12 rivals since the Texas Bowl in 2017, and Texas’ first trip to Columbia since 2011, when Missouri won a Big 12 game 17-5. This one had its own strange flavor, too, with five video reviews all breaking Missouri’s way.
The teams went back and forth early, trading touchdowns in the first quarter before each added a field goal to leave things tied 10-10 at halftime. Both sides also wasted chances. Ryan Wingo lost a fumble for Texas, which set up a Missouri field goal, and Blake Craig missed a relatively easy kick midway through the second quarter that could have given the Tigers more cushion.
Missouri grabbed the lead again in the third quarter at 13-13 when Montgomery slipped free from Jelani McDonald, stayed just inside the sideline, and then raced untouched the rest of the way for a 75-yard touchdown.
Texas answered in unusual fashion. On third-and-10 at the Missouri 39, Manning threw incomplete, but officials ruled the play a fumble recovered by the Longhorns for a first down.
Replay appeared to show a forward pass, but referee David Smith upheld the call. Texas cashed in three plays later when Manning connected with Jermaine Bishop Jr. on a 25-yard touchdown to tie it at 20-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I don't get explanations. I get the same thing you all do,” Drinkwitz said. “They review it and say it's upheld or it's not.”
From there, Texas’ defense tightened, Missouri was forced into consecutive punts, and Manning delivered the throw that changed the game. He dropped a sharp pass down the sideline to Brown, who had leaked out of the backfield and beaten Dante McClellan, and Brown hauled it in for the decisive touchdown with 5:03 remaining.
“Like we say all the time, we're big-game hunters,” Sarkisian said, “and we showed up again today.”
Texas has now won three straight after back-to-back losses to Oklahoma and Florida, both by a field goal. Missouri has dropped two of its last three, a stretch that likely ends its College Football Playoff hopes.
Texas visits No. 15 LSU next Saturday.
In Other News...
Missouri Fans Have Every Right To Be Furious With The SEC
Missouris latest frustration with the SEC came in the kind of moment that lingers long after the final whistle. During a recent football game, a replay review upheld a ruling that a Missouri forward fumble was recovered by the offense, a decision that kept a Texas drive alive and eventually led to a touchdown. Eli Drinkwitz addressed the officiating afterward, but he stopped short of directly blaming the officials, knowing how quickly that can turn into a fine.
The SEC later issued its own explanation, saying the replay crew did not have clear and obvious video evidence to overturn the call. Even with that clarification, the sequence only added to the sense of grievance around Missouri, where fans were left watching a pivotal possession swing on a review that the league says met the standard but many in Columbia will never view the same way. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Just Got A Ranking Snub At The Worst Time
Missouris stumble against Texas came with an extra sting on Sunday, when the Tigers fell out of the US LBM Coaches Poll altogether. A week after sitting at No. 19, they are now the second team outside the top 25, a reminder of how quickly one loss can change the national view of a team trying to stay in the SEC race.
The timing makes the drop feel even sharper with Georgia next on the schedule, a matchup that will give Missouri an immediate chance to change the conversation. For a team that had been climbing the rankings, the margin for error is suddenly much thinner, and the path back into the poll now runs straight through one of the toughest tests on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Just Became The SEC's Latest Reality Check
Texas left Columbia with a 34-20 win over Missouri, and the postgame message from Steve Sarkisian sounded like one aimed as much at the broader SEC conversation as at the Tigers themselves. After a game that had plenty of pregame skepticism attached to Texas, the Longhorns answered by leaning on the kind of mental and physical toughness their coach wanted to see, turning a road test into a statement result.
Missouri, meanwhile, was left to absorb another reminder of how unforgiving this league can be when a contender arrives and handles business. Texas now moves on to LSU for another road challenge, with that one set for ABC, while the Tigers are left sorting through what the loss says about where they stand in the SEC pecking order. [Read more 🡒]