Arch Manning comes up clutch as Texas makes final College Football Playoff case

AUSTIN, Texas — As jubilant Texas fans floated their way out of Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, one burnt-orange clad spectator said to nobody in particular: “What a win, I don’t even remember Athens, Georgia.”

That’s the type of memory-erasing magic that comes with a victory in the Lone Star Showdown. The rivalry returned to Austin for the first time in 15 years with the century-old foes reuniting as members of the Southeastern Conference last season.

Two years. Two Texas wins. Two heartbreaking SEC championship eliminations for Texas A&M.

This game played out with a different cadence than the 2024 version. The No. 3 Longhorns led that 17-7 defensive showdown last season from start to finish. This time Texas trailed 10-3 at halftime to the No. 3 Aggies. 

But like the 2025 Longhorns have done three other times this season in SEC play, they again got to again utter a variation of: “They had us in the first half.” 

Texas scored 17 straight second-half points to snatch the lead from A&M, closed things out with a pair of fourth-quarter turnovers and handed an 11-0 Texas A&M its first loss of the year. It’s a victory that pushes Texas to 9-3 and gives the program an argument to be the first ever three-loss team to reach the playoff.

“These guys are so resilient,” Sarkisian said. “This team has been through a lot. When we lost (35-10) in Athens a few weeks ago most teams would have been dead and gone. They answered the bell.”

Sarkisian rang the bell at halftime telling his team to show some pride, and the Longhorns responded by running with ruthless efficiency.

Texas toted the ball 22 times for 157 yards on 7.1 yards per carry in the second half, almost double their average (3.77) on the season.

Ahead of the game, Sarkisian showed Wisner a few clips of his 186-yard effort last season against Texas A&M. The Longhorns have struggled to run the ball this season and hadn’t had a single game with a 100-yard ball carrier. Sarkisian wanted to create belief in his starting back.  Wisner answered with a season-high 155 yards, including a 48-yard scamper on Texas’ opening offensive play of the second half. Sarkisian called inside zone. When Wisner saw the hole and all the green grass ahead of him, he compared it to seeing “heaven” open up. 

“We controlled the game (with the run),” Sarkisian said.

Perhaps nobody responded Friday quite like Longhorn quarterback Arch Manning.

A first-year starter labeled the sport’s “first flop” midway through the year, every Manning throw has been dissected and his every move picked apart. He’s played much better since Texas’ Red River win over Oklahoma, but he struggled to throw the ball consistently against Texas A&M on a windy Friday evening in Austin — finishing 14 of 19 for his fourth sub-50% throwing effort of the season. 

Manning found his accuracy late. He completed six of his final seven passes for 128 yards and a score.

When Texas A&M cut Texas’ 10-point lead to 20-17 with 9:15 remaining, Manning made the play. Sarkisian dialed up inside zone. Arch found the hole, made a linebacker miss on a shoestring tackle and ran to daylight for the game-clinching score.

“It got hard,” Sarkisian said. “(Arch) worked his way through it.”

It’s a touchdown that led Texas All-American safety Michael Taaffe — who had a game-sealing interception of his own on senior night — to declare of Manning: “The best player in college football, ARCH MANNING.”

People would have laughed at that statement midway through the year. Friday night, maybe with an eye toward 2026 when Manning is expected to return to Austin, it felt possible. 

After the game Texas A&M’s Heisman candidate Marcel Reed, who threw a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions, pulled Manning aside and told him: “Y’all deserve to be in (the playoff).”

There will be no bigger talking point in Austin, and perhaps college football, over the next nine days than Texas’ playoff case.

The win over Texas A&M pushed the Longhorns to 9-3. But as every Texas coach and player who spoke postgame were eager to tell you, Texas isn’t your usual three-loss team.

Sarkisian came to the podium with stats:

The Longhorns are the first team since 2019 LSU to beat three top 10 teams (Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M in the regular. “Chew on that for a second,” Sarkisian said.

• Texas’ strength of schedule sits at 5th nationally per TeamRankings.com
• Texas played the No. 1 (Ohio State), No. 3 (Texas A&M) and No. 4 Georgia teams in the country
• Texas went 3-2 against top 10 teams in the regular season
• Texas is the only team to play No. 1 Ohio State to a one-score game this year.

That Week 1 game against Ohio State might end up being the crux of Texas’ case to the committee. Sarkisian hammered home the idea Texas didn’t have to schedule Ohio State. It could have picked another Power Four game, won and finished 10-2. Taaffe went as far to say the Longhorns scheduled a game in Week 1 everyone enjoyed on national TV and the program shouldn’t be penalized for it.

“What (message) do we want to send to the head coaches and athletic directors around the country?” Sarkisian said. “If we’re a 10-2 team right now this isn’t a discussion. We’re in the playoff.

“I surely think we don’t want us to punish us to do that. What are we going to do, we’re going to go get out of these games like a lot of teams in the country have done, and they’ve got nice pretty records right now.”

Other teams would surely argue the Longhorns shouldn’t have lost to a now 3-8 Florida team or have needed desperate comebacks against SEC bottom feeders Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Either way, the committee will be forced to weigh Texas’ candidacy because of its Lone Star Showdown statement. It’s a victory that somewhat salvages a season that began with Texas ranked as preseason No. 1 for the first time in program history. 

No player defined that preseason hype (and the up-and-down nature of Texas’ season) quite like the Longhorns’ QB1. 

Manning is just not quite ready to reflect on the season or a reality in which Texas doesn’t get to keep playing into December.

“I think we’re going to make the playoffs, I don’t know why we wouldn’t,” Manning said. “I’m not going to worry about.”