Texas opened the Arch Manning era with the kind of performance that makes a coach exhale a little deeper.
The Longhorns rolled past Texas State 59-7 on Saturday, piling up 516 yards, forcing three turnovers and giving Steve Sarkisian a first look at a rebuilt offense that already has some real bite. The test gets a lot tougher from here, but for one afternoon, Texas checked a lot of boxes.
Manning was the center of it all. He settled in quickly, completed 20 of 27 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns, and looked in command from the opening drive. The lone interception kept the day from being spotless, but Texas got exactly what it needed from its quarterback: efficiency, rhythm and no signs of being rattled.
The receiving room backed that up in a big way. Ryan Wingo and Cam Coleman combined for 10 catches, 191 yards and three scores, with Wingo finishing at seven receptions for 121 yards.
Coleman made his Texas debut count, hauling in three passes and scoring twice. If that kind of production sticks, Manning won’t be short on options.
Texas also got a steady late cameo from backup KJ Lacey, who completed six of seven throws for 55 yards.
On the ground, there were some promising flashes and a few uneven stretches. Hollywood Smothers broke loose for a 45-yard run and finished with 70 yards on 10 carries.
Raleek Brown added touchdown runs of 13 and 21 yards. The run game had its explosive moments, but it still wasn’t consistent enough snap to snap, and that remains one of the main offensive questions going into Week 2.
Protection was a better sign for Texas. The rebuilt line gave Manning time to work for much of the afternoon, even if the team still needs cleaner movement in the run game.
Defensively, Texas handled its business too. Texas State finished with 349 yards, but the Longhorns shut the door whenever the game threatened to shift.
Rasheem Biles forced a fumble and picked off a pass, Graceson Littleton returned a fumble 59 yards for a touchdown and Maraad Watson added a strip-sack. Texas State never scored after halftime.
That effort came with some encouraging news for a secondary that had been one of the preseason questions. The back end kept explosive plays in check, and the defense as a whole put the game away once Texas found its footing.
Sarkisian’s offense scored on eight of nine possessions, while Will Muschamp’s defense completely shut down Texas State after intermission. Ohio State comes to Austin on Sept. 12, and the Longhorns know the grading scale changes fast. For now, though, they looked sharp enough to pass the first exam.
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Texas opened the season with the kind of performance that tends to stick with voters, and in a crowded Week 1 landscape that mattered just as much as the win itself. Across the AP Top 25, several of the teams sitting near the top handled business in varying fashion, with Ohio State and Georgia among the other major names under review as the first rankings of the fall start to settle into place.
For Texas, the larger question is not whether the Longhorns made an early statement, but how much that statement will move them when the new poll comes out. Week 1 was full of small shifts rather than seismic ones, even as Michigan escaped with a controversial Hail Mary finish and other ranked teams offered enough evidence to nudge the order a little in either direction. [Read more 🡒]
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Texas Suddenly Have A Derrek Cooper Problem They Didn't Expect
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Cooper is expected to wear a protective boot on his right leg for the foreseeable future, a sign that this is more than a short-lived bump in the road. For a freshman who had started to build momentum as a contributor, the immediate question is how long Texas will have to manage without him and how the staff reshuffles the depth chart in the meantime. [Read more 🡒]