Saturday marked Texas’ first conference game in the Southeastern Conference. This weekend, the Mississippi State Bulldogs looked to upset the nation’s top-ranked team after suffering a brutal loss to Florida last week. However, despite a slow start for the Longhorns, the team chomped their way to a sizable 35-13 win late.
The first half was one that Longhorn fans would likely choose not to relive. To begin, Johntay Cook suffered a tough dropped pass on a sure-fire touchdown opportunity. Moreover, a lost fumble by Jaydon Blue helped to keep the Bulldogs in the race with a score of 14-6 at the half.
Even with the sluggish start, Arch Manning had accumulated 202 yards passing at the half. Thankfully for Steve Sarkisian’s team, Manning’s one touchdown pass of the half came at the perfect time – with 29 seconds remaining. On that play, Manning found wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr 49-yards downfield for the score. Moore later found himself on the receiving end of another Manning touchdown pass and finished the game with 103 receiving yards.
Afterwards, the second half got off to just as rocky of a start. On the first offensive drive, Jaydon Blue coughed up another fumble and was benched for the remainder of the contest. In fact, Texas was not able to add to their score until the end of the third quarter. This happened when Arch Manning punched his way into the end zone on a 1-yard QB sneak. From that moment on, it was a different ballgame. In the fourth quarter, Texas found the end zone an additional two times, putting the away the Bulldogs with ease.
Frankly, tonight’s game had shades of the 2023 Longhorns. The play wasn’t beautiful, but they got the job done late. At the end of the day, that is all you can ask for. Furthermore, the team’s defensive performance had mixes of good and bad. For example, the team allowed 63 rushing yards in the first quarter alone. However, it was also a game in which the team tallied a whopping six sacks, with freshman EDGE Colin Simmons leading the way with two. Additionally, the defense limited Mississippi’ States scoring action to a total of 13 points on 294 yards of total offense.
Next weekend, the Longhorns will enjoy their bye week. Afterwards, the team travels to Dallas, TX for their yearly matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners. Lastly, their Red River matchup will be televised on either ABC or ESPN at 2:30 P.M. (CT).
