The Texas Longhorns continued their winning ways with a dominating win over the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Saturday. Arch Manning put together his best performance of the year, finishing his day 18 of 21 for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, while adding 2 TDs on the ground. The Texas offense finally clicked, and the defense continued to play at a national championship level.
This game was Longhorn domination from the first to final whistle. The Longhorns outgained the Bearkats by nearly 500 yards, 607-113. The Longhorns finished with 607 total yards and a nice pass to rush split (343 passing yards, 264 rushing yards). Arch Manning and the Longhorns started the game with nine consecutive scoring drives; seven ended in the end zone. The Longhorn defense continued its elite play, holding SHSU to 2 of 13 third down conversions and 27 yards rushing.
To start the game, the Texas defense forced a three-and-out. Then Texas did something it hadn’t done all year: produce a touchdown drive of 70-plus yards. That drive was capped by Jerrick Gibson’s 13-yard run. Manning made a number of nice throws during the drive. From there, the floodgates opened, and the Longhorns poured it on.
The Longhorns followed the first TD drive with a nine-play, 60-yard scoring drive capped by the first of Manning’s two first-half rushing TDs. On the offense’s third possession, a 32-yard end around to Ryan Wingo was followed by a 32-yard scoring pass to Jordan Washington to extend the lead to 21-0. Texas had one drive before the half stall at the SHSU 11-yard line and settled for a field goal, but the unit rebounded with another 70-yard touchdown drive capped by another Manning rushing score.
The first half was nearly picture perfect for the Longhorns, who scored on every drive and gave up only two first downs to the Bearkats. Texas went 4 of 5 on third down, outgained Sam Houston State 361-50 and scored TDs on three of the four trips to the red zone. Manning looked as strong as he has thus far in 2025, and the defense continued its high level of play. In the first half, Texas had four plays of 30-plus yards, and an acrobatic interception from Jelani McDonald completed the half’s highlights.
The Longhorns scored 1:09 into the second half on a beautiful 53-yard deep ball from Manning to Ryan Wingo. The defense continued its domination, and Ryan Niblett added a 49-yard punt return to set up another Manning to Wingo TD, a 13-yard connection. With the lead 45-0, Manning did not take another snap.
From there, the Matthew Caldwell show took over. It proved equally fruitful for Texas. After a short field goal drive, Caldwell led an eight play, 91-yard touchdown drive. That drive included a 50-yard run by the QB and was capped by Christian Clark’s first career TD, pushing the Longhorns lead to 55-0 with 13 minutes left.
In the final 13 minutes, Texas sat on the ball, continuing to run clock and get more touches for the young runningbacks. Despite the RBs being the centerpiece, there were a number of other young players that made their debuts, including four-star freshman QB KJ Lacey. He came in for the Longhorns’ final drive of the day, completing the first pass of his collegiate career. If the day couldn’t get more perfect for Sarkisian, his son, Brady Sarkisian, capped the game with a tackle for loss.
The Longhorns set out to have a get right game against Sam Houston State after three frustrating performances, and they did just that. Manning looked confident and crisp, the offense worked like a well oiled machine, the defense continued to look like one of the best in the country and the Longhorns came out with a comfortable win.
Moving forward, the Longhorns get some time to catch their breath, with a bye week coming up. Following the bye week is the toughest portion of the Longhorns schedule, when they play away from Austin for the entire month of October, starting with a trip to Gainesville. We will see if Texas can continue building off this encouraging performance against Florida on Oct. 4, but for now, it looks like the Longhorns are finding a groove.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Arch Manning shines as Texas football rolls over Sam Houston State, 55-0
Reporting by Tommy Bresee, Longhorns Wire / Longhorns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
