OTF Premium Snap Judgments: No. 5 Texas opens 2026 with a dominant win over Texas State, 59-7

[NTX_Horn]

24 minutes ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

Concerned about secondary next week. Muschamp going to have to take chances with blitz packages

Texas secondary will improve over the season, but next week is worrisome for me

Sounds like a high scoring game to me.  

[bpfire4]

1 hour ago, Jeff Howe said:

Arch Manning’s performance in Saturday’s 59-7 season-opening win over Texas State mirrored the product No. 5 Texas put on the field.

Manning opened the 2026 season completing 20 of 27 passes for 305 yards, four touchdowns and an interception. Like the Longhorns as a group, Manning had plenty of good things he can take away from the first game of the season (two touchdown passes to Cam Coleman, a 7-for-8 day throwing the ball on third down and leading two touchdown drives to start the second half after a sloppy sequence before halftime) and a few things he’d like to have back (an interception in the end zone on the last play of the first half).

Overall, Manning and the Longhorns have enough things to fix coming out of the game that they should keep them from riding high for too long, especially with the countdown to a showdown with No. 1 Ohio State underway in earnest.

***

For the most part, when Manning was behind center, Texas State's defense was in a single-high safety look for most of the game. The Bobcats devoted more resources to stopping the run after Texas got the ground attack going early, which is when Manning started to push the ball down the field.

Eight of Manning’s 20 completions were explosive (15 or more yards), including a 44-yarder to Coleman (three catches for 70 yards) and a 45-yard strike to Ryan Wingo (seven catches for 121 yards and a touchdown, all in the first half).

***

While the deep ball carried the passing game Saturday, a couple of Manning’s clutch throws were the kind of layups Steve Sarkisian has said Manning needs to hit more frequently.

One was when he got Texas State to jump into the neutral zone on third-and-9, resulting in a swing pass to Hollywood Smothers (70 yards rushing, 28 yards receiving and a 13-yard touchdown catch) for 11 yards and a first down (Raleek Brown scored six plays later). The other was a fourth-and-4 strike to Emmett Mosley V (37 yards on three receptions), which gained seven yards as Manning made the throw (from the hash mark closest to the home sideline going into the visiting sideline) look effortless.

***

What was disappointing about Manning’s interception into a crowd of Texas State defenders is that he eliminated those kinds of mistakes in the second half of last season. Hopefully, it was a first-game mistake and Manning will reserve the right to kick a field goal and get points for the offense in those situations going forward.

***

Raleek Brown’s (34 yards rushing and two touchdowns) aforementioned 13-yard touchdown run in the second quarter capped an impressive 13-play, 80-yard drive after the Bobcats missed a field goal. That drive featured some of the best and most consistent blocking the Texas offensive line has ever put on display this early in the season under Steve Sarkisian.

With the tight ends (namely Nick Townsend and Spencer Shannon) setting a physical tone, the Longhorns owned the line of scrimmage, converting a second-and-1 (a 5-yard run by Cooper) and a third-and-1 (a 5-yard run by Smothers) en route to the end zone.

Unfortunately, the combination of Texas State sending more bodies toward the line of scrimmage, Texas going with fewer multiple-tight-end sets and the Longhorns looking like they weren’t staying on their blocks long enough to let runs get beyond the line of scrimmage caused the running game to bog down.

Sarkisian called a delayed handoff/draw for Brown in the third quarter, which got him into the end zone from 21 yards out essentially untouched. It was a welcome sight.

Still, as high as the highs were on Saturday, the lows felt a little too low when Texas tried to pound the rock.

***

Between the high-risk, high-reward nature of Will Muschamp’s defense (on top of what seemed like a bland game plan), the explosive nature of Texas State’s offense and the tempo the Bobcats utilize, it should’ve been expected that the Longhorns would give up some big plays.

While Texas was torched too many times for comfort (three 15-plus-yard passes and five rushing attempts of at least 10 yards), the Longhorns earned their three takeaways.

Rasheem Biles and Maraad Watson punched the football loose twice and Biles watched Brad Jackson’s eyes the whole way on an attempted screen pass he intercepted.

Muschamp’s defense can give up plays here and there, as long as they make more than they give up. That was the case on Saturday.

***

Although the Bobcats got loose in coverage more than a few times, attacking the Texas defense at the second level and in the middle of the field in the process, it felt like the Longhorns tackled well. Credit to Jonah Williams for an open-field tackle on Chris Dawn Jr. to limit a catch-and-run on an angle route out of the backfield to a 22-yard gain (Biles’ forced fumble and Graceson Littleton’s scoop-and-score came one play later).

Muschamp’s crew at least made Texas State earn its chunk-yardage plays.

***

The defense has areas of concern. Namely, how the linebackers and safeties will hold up in coverage against the Buckeyes and beyond and too many runs that helped the Bobcats stay on schedule (Texas State’s average to-go distance on third down was 4.3 yards).

Nevertheless, I’d expect Muschamp to show a lot more against Ohio State, which won’t test Texas the same way the Bobcats did (tempo, wide splits on the outside and a massive offensive line are veer-and-shoot staples that make GJ Kinne’s offense tough to deal with for four quarters).

***

The Longhorns had four accepted penalties for 35 yards in the opener. Compared to a penalty-riddled 2025 season, that would’ve tied the Oklahoma game for the season-low in penalties and been the second-lowest penalty yardage total of the season (31 against the Sooners).

***

Speaking of penalties, what more does Colin Simmons, who recovered the fumble Watson forced, have to do to draw a holding call?

***

All told, the win over Texas State was as good an outing as Sarkisian and Texas could’ve hoped for.

There were a lot of good things to take away and be excited about going forward, but there's a lot to clean up before Ohio State comes to town.

 

View full news story

 

What have we heard on Cooper?

[Roy Hinojosa]

If we compare this start versus last year's start, it's a huge improvement. 

[TTown]

Of course we didn't show a lot today. And been getting ready for OSU all off season.  But I still think this game determines the season in many respects. Lose and will be 3 in a row to them.Lose and now margin of error goes way down to keep from 3 losses. Makes you almost have to go 9-1 the rest of the way.

I expect us to play well , but this is no lock just because it's home. See how we respond. Need a crazy crowd and let's roll. Let the hype begin!! 

Edited 36 minutes ago by TTown

[Gerry Hamilton]

5 minutes ago, Roy Hinojosa said:

If we compare this start versus last year's start, it's a huge improvement. 

Agree with that 

[Alex Butler]

1 hour ago, Jeff Howe said:

I want to rewatch the game almost strictly for defensive purposes. I could be wrong, but it felt like a pretty basic, bland game plan by Will Muschamp.

Agree with everything you said Jeff!! You’re reading my mind. I’m struggling to understand why we beat a team by 52 points and it still feels like we left way too much to be desired. My wife even called me out for being grumpy when Texas was up 42 in the second half lol. I was frustrated with the plays in the passing game. Especially over the middle of the field. There were a few twists and stunts we ran and some blitzes but really didn’t get great pressure up the middle on Jacky and let him escape too many times. Can we file a lawsuit to get holding calls reviewed? It’s getting comical now especially with Simmons. 

[Mark Futrell]

Always things to work on. Opportunities abound: both offensively and defensively and that is to be expected from the 1st game. The surprise for me was how Philips and Mascoe on the corners gotten taken advantage - the trade off of man coverage - of and a couple of runs on the interior DLine, but nothing to be alarmed about. No big deal! Maybe not picking. The key is Consistency and there was an ebb and flow in the 3rd QTR as we did not sustain the intensity of the first half. Love that we started out strong after last years slow starts. Love the fact that we only committed 4 penalties. Great first look and if we play at a high level next week we beat OSU by more than most expect. Lots of talent on this team that covers for mistakes and for one another. Hook’em!!!

[genevalonghorn]

Who was the dude on kickoff coverage with the hard hit in the 4th quarter?

[Texas fan in Georgia]

1 hour ago, Jeff Howe said:

I want to rewatch the game almost strictly for defensive purposes. I could be wrong, but it felt like a pretty basic, bland game plan by Will Muschamp.

It was very basic. I didn’t think he brought too much pressure while respecting Jackson’s ability to run the ball. Sayin doesn’t have that type of ability, wasn’t many twists and stunts . I do have concerns about the secondary in general though. Bo mascoe got beat a couple times when he was at the nickel spot

[NTX_Horn]

2 minutes ago, genevalonghorn said:

Who was the dude on kickoff coverage with the hard hit in the 4th quarter?

Darius Snow I believe 

[Jbro52]

53 minutes ago, hookem1014 said:

Hope everyone who went is alright. Heat was brutal today. Might be a factor next week even with a high game. 

Alcohol and heat never mix

[Gerry Hamilton]

7 minutes ago, genevalonghorn said:

Who was the dude on kickoff coverage with the hard hit in the 4th quarter?

Darius Snow

[tommym]

Less penalties, Jeff is right very basic defense, and seems more efficient running game. Arch is feeling more comfortable, the swing passes to tge running backs is going to be a headache for future opponents. Like that spread out the offensive output.

Huge challenge next week.

[HonkEm]

All these folks saying it was a ‘mild 93 degrees’ today must’ve watched the game from a walk‑in freezer. Step inside DKR and it wasn’t 93 - it was ‘bake at 150° for 3 hours’. The sun was sitting in our laps. Turf temps had to be flirting with 140–150. I wasn’t sweating, I was rendering.

If you thought that felt ‘mild,’ congratulations - you’re officially heat‑proof and should be studied by science

It was freaking hot

Edited 9 minutes ago by HonkEm

[Roy Hinojosa]

3 minutes ago, HonkEm said:

All these folks saying it was a ‘mild 93 degrees’ today must’ve watched the game from a walk‑in freezer. Step inside DKR and it wasn’t 93 - it was ‘bake at 150° for 3 hours’. The sun was sitting in our laps. Turf temps had to be flirting with 140–150. I wasn’t sweating, I was rendering.

If you thought that felt ‘mild,’ congratulations - you’re officially heat‑proof and should be studied by science

It was freaking hot

I can confirm this, I sweated through everything.