Texas opened the 2026 season looking every bit like a team that expected to handle business, rolling past Texas State 59-7 on Saturday behind a sharp Arch Manning performance and a pile of explosive plays.
Manning was efficient from the jump, finishing 20 of 27 for 305 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He found Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo all day, and the Longhorns’ passing game never really let Texas State settle in. Wingo turned in the biggest receiving day of the bunch, catching seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, while Coleman added three grabs for 70 yards and two scores.
The run game brought plenty of punch too. Hollywood Smothers was electric early and finished with 98 yards of total offense plus a receiving touchdown.
Fellow transfer Raleek Brown made his Texas debut and came away with two rushing scores. Texas also got backup quarterback KJ Lacey extended work after he entered for Manning with about five minutes left in the third quarter.
The only real blemishes came late in the first half, when Manning threw a poor interception in the end zone and the defense allowed a few downfield plays. Even so, Texas spent most of the afternoon in control.
The Longhorns wasted no time setting the tone. On the opening snap, Smothers slipped through the Texas State defense and nearly broke free for a 45-yard touchdown run. A few plays later, Manning hit Coleman on a fade to the back left pylon for the first score of the game and a 7-0 lead.
Texas kept pressing after a fourth-down stop, with defensive tackle Alex January batting down a pass to force the turnover on downs. On the next series, Wingo became the centerpiece.
He hauled in a tough sideline catch on fourth down and then caught a touch "pass" from Manning for an eight-yard touchdown. That made it two drives, two touchdowns, and a 14-0 Texas lead.
Texas State then helped the Longhorns along by missing a chip-shot 24-yard field goal after reaching the Texas 4-yard line. Texas responded with another touchdown drive, this one finished by Brown on a 13-yard outside pitch that he turned into an easy score.
Then came the defensive highlight that really cracked the game open. Graceson Littleton scooped up a loose ball and raced 59 yards for a touchdown, pushing the margin to 28-0.
Texas State eventually got on the board late in the second half before Manning’s interception in the end zone, but the Longhorns kept rolling after halftime. In the third quarter, Coleman, Smothers and Brown all added touchdowns as the offense kept stacking points.
There was also a brief scare when true freshman running back Derrek Cooper left in the first half with an injury and later returned to the sideline in a boot.
On defense, Rasheem Biles and Graceson Littleton both came away with takeaways, even if Texas gave up a few too many big plays down the field in the first half.
By the fourth quarter, the outcome was long settled and the Longhorns were simply working through a lot of garbage-time snaps, giving third- and fourth-string players valuable reps.
Now the attention shifts fast. Texas gets Ohio State in Austin next week in a Top-5 matchup.
In Other News...
Texas Showed Off Serious Firepower But One Concern Isn't Going Away
Texas wasted little time showing why it is expected to carry so much offensive punch this season, rolling past Texas State 59-7 in its 2026 opener and getting production from all over the field. Smothers made an impact as both a runner and receiver, while Coleman and Wingo helped stretch the Bobcats with a combined 10 catches, 191 yards and three touchdowns, giving the Longhorns the kind of easy early rhythm that can make a September game feel over by halftime.
The bigger question for Texas still sits on the other side of the ball, where the defense flashed with some notable plays but also showed coverage issues that stronger opponents are likely to test more aggressively. Against Texas State, those mistakes never threatened the outcome, but they were visible enough to keep the spotlight on a unit that will need to tighten up as the schedule gets more demanding. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Fans Endured A Brutal Season Opener Beyond The Blowout
The opener in Austin was supposed to be a feel-good start to a new season, and Texas delivered on the scoreboard with a lopsided win over Texas State. Arch Manning wasted little time setting the tone, throwing for 305 yards and four touchdowns before leaving early in a 59-7 rout, giving Longhorns fans plenty to enjoy once the football settled in.
But the afternoon was punishing long before the final margin felt safe, with temperatures climbing above 100 degrees and multiple heat-related incidents forcing medical attention in the stands. Even in a game that turned quickly in Texas favor, much of the conversation around the opener centered on how fans scrambled for relief in the stadium's shaded pockets, a reminder that the toughest part of the day sometimes had little to do with the opponent. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Home Opener Sparked An Uncomfortable Heat Safety Debate
Extreme heat turned Texas home opener against Texas State into more than just a rout on the field, with the conditions in Austin creating a safety issue in the stands before the Longhorns 59-7 win ever stopped feeling like the main event. The game drew the kind of September attention that usually centers on an early-season tune-up, but the temperature quickly shifted the focus to how fans were handling a brutal afternoon in the sun.
Several spectators were hospitalized for heat-related problems, and the scene inside Darrell K. Royal Stadium underscored how punishing the weather had become. Even with Texas rolling on the scoreboard, the bigger conversation after the opener was not about the size of the win, but about what it took just to make it through the day in the stands. [Read more 🡒]