The Texas Longhorns entered Saturday’s showdown with the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners needing a win after dropping two of their first five games. After a slow first half, trailing 6-3, the Longhorns’ offense found a spark, and their defense remained dominant.
Texas secured a 23-6 victory behind running back Tre Wisner, who rushed 22 times for 94 yards and caught five passes for 34 yards.
Quarterback Arch Manning completed 21 of 27 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown, while adding four rushes for 34 yards. He drew attention in the final moments for waving toward the departing Oklahoma crowd, which received mixed reactions from college football fans.
One critic of the gesture was sports media personality Skip Bayless, who delivered a harsh critique of Manning following the game.
“Arch should wave goodbye to being a high draft pick,” Bayless said. “He’s just not good enough to live up his last name. There was a reason he couldn’t beat out 7th-round pick Quinn Ewers for two years”
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Texas entered the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, with enormous hype surrounding Manning as he stepped into his first full-time starting role at the collegiate level. Through the team’s first six games, however, Texas has struggled to live up to those lofty expectations.
Despite this, Manning has still performed admirably. He has thrown for 1,317 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions, while adding 194 rushing yards and five more scores on the ground.
Texas is likely to climb back into the Top 25 rankings, but the Longhorns still have plenty of work to do to return to College Football Playoff contention. With two losses already, their margin for error is extremely slim.
Their next two games are against the Kentucky Wildcats and the Mississippi State Bulldogs, followed by a big showdown with the Vanderbilt Commodores on Nov. 1.
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