AUSTIN, Texas – Arch Manning And Texas Royal-Texas returned to Darrell K. Memorial Stadium on Saturday for its first home game in 42 days. To home fans, he looked like a completely new Manning.
The quarterback went 25 of 33 for 328 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 20 Longhorns held off the No. 9 seed. Vanderbilt 34-31despite the Commodores coming out late and scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Manning, who suffered a concussion last week in overtime in a comeback win over Mississippidid not practice until Wednesday and was listed on the SEC's injury report until Friday evening. He said he felt good all week.
Then Texas got off to a roaring start. On Game 1, Manning threw a pass wide of the target. Ryan Wingowho ran down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. It foreshadowed a big day when he became the first player in Texas history to pass for 300 yards, three touchdowns and completing 75% of his passes against a top-10 team.
“Maybe the concussion helped,” he joked.
According to ESPN Research, Manning lost 10 of 34 dropbacks and went 8-10 for 145 yards, with all three touchdowns coming against five or more pass rushers, marking his most touchdowns against a blitz in his career. All three came through play-action passes. He has three such TD passes in his career going back to today.
Steve Sarkisian said Texas changed some offensive linemen this week, moving Cole Hutson to the left of the guard and Conner Robertson in the center, and noticed the difference.
“It was the best defense [Manning has] received the whole year,” Sargsyan said. “I thought Arch, to his credit, helped them. He made some plays defensively to pick up some things so we could throw them down the field, but it allowed him to get through the reads.”
Moreover, Sarkisian said Manning looks like a different quarterback than he did at the start of the year.
“I think he's matured,” Sarkisian said. “He looks a lot more mature. He looks much more balanced. He seems a lot more confident and he has a lot more trust in the guys around him.”
Sargsyan was pleased with the effectiveness of his attack. But he said late in the game, when Vanderbilt got going, he thought the Longhorns lost their composure a little because of some officiating decisions that he felt were wrong.
“Some of these calls made sense to me, but I need to get an explanation as to why these calls did not go our way,” he said. “I think it's a lesson learned about poise and composure, controlling what you can control and we can't control the calls. We need to focus on the next game.”
Despite the dismissal Diego Pavia after reaching a career-high six times – he has seven sacks this season – and holding Vanderbilt to 58 yards, the fewest in two seasons since Pavia arrived, the Longhorns breathed a sigh of relief when Vanderbilt nearly recovered an onside kick that went out of bounds with 33 seconds left.
Pavia finished 27 of 38 for 365 yards and three touchdowns, then ran for another 43 yards and another score.
“I wish we could have finished the match a little better, but that's normal,” Sarkisian said. “That gives me an excuse to kick their ass on Monday when we get together.”
Sarkisian called Saturday's game “almost a November playoff-type game” and pointed to their improvement as a reason for optimism, saying Texas is not a finished product.
Manning said he feels like he's had a few bad games under his belt and now has experience to build on. But he knows what lies ahead with his trip to No. 5. Georgia looms after the bye week, with a win likely needed to keep their playoff hopes alive.
“I’m proud of the way we play,” Manning said. “Dogs at home is no joke. We have to keep getting better.”
