OTF Premium Snap Judgments: Gritty comeback lifts No. 4 Texas to last-second win over No. 1 Ohio State, 24-23

[Jeff Howe]

Just now, HookemChappy said:

Who is 99? Looked big for Wesley

It was Jordan Coleman.

[PaulieD]

10 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

Very surprised tears didn't cause the beard dye to run!

[Coreyh14]

1 hour ago, alrightalrightalright said:

💯 Told my wife this. Gotta get used to it. Learn to live with it. Can’t half step as number one. 🤘🏽

My wife just doesn’t show the care she should be showing.  

[HornsUpThumbsDown]

11 hours ago, Jeff Howe said:

It didn’t matter if it was by one point or 100.

It doesn’t matter that it took a horrendous, miserable first half to set up the program’s biggest comeback win since 2007.

It doesn’t matter that Texas still has to navigate a brutal SEC schedule before thinking about returning to the College Football Playoff.

The Longhorns needed Saturday’s 24-23 win over No. 1 Ohio State in the worst way.

To get the scarlet-and-gray monkey off their back

For Steve Sarkisian, who’s won four of his last five games against top-10 opponents, to change the narrative about him in big games.

For Arch Manning, who’s yet to lose a start at home, to prove that he’s not the same quarterback who looked miles away from being a franchise player in Columbus last season.

For Texas to prove that it's ready to kick in the door to national championship contender status after knocking on it in 2023 and 2024.

The Longhorns overcame a 23-3 third-quarter deficit to win, scoring the game’s last 21 points. After stumbling, fumbling and falling over itself in the first half, Texas flipped the script in the second half, outgaining Ohio State by 107 yards (239-132), winning the battle on the ground (103-46) and executing critical situations at an elite level (5-for-9 on third down, 2-for-2 on fourth down and 3-for-3 in the red zone with three touchdowns).

Sarkisian and the Longhorns have a lot to fix. That work can start on Sunday.

Playing the Buckeyes close wasn’t going to be good enough. Texas made the plays it needed to make to position itself for an epic comeback.

And now that it’s done, the Longhorns cleared a huge hurdle toward grabbing the next rung in college football’s hierarchy.

***

Kade Phillips and Cam Coleman deserve huge kudos for the comeback.

Phillips recovered a punt that bounced off Ryan Niblett’s face mask in the third quarter. With a 23-3 lead, an Ohio State recovery deep in would’ve paved the way for a Buckeye rout.

On the offense’s ensuing possession, Coleman pounced on an Emmett Mosley V fumble, which would’ve wiped out a third-and-9 conversion in the Ohio State red zone.

The comeback wouldn’t have been possible without those two plays. The mistakes Texas made time and again in the first half gave way to timely clutch moments down the stretch.

***

Colin Simmons made two game-changing plays in the second half that won’t show up in the box score.

On third-and-4 from the Longhorns’ 27-yard line, Simmons pressured Julian Sayin, rushing a throw down the sideline intended for Jeremiah Smith (a well-defended play by Bo Mascoe) that fell incomplete.

The next snap was Connor Hawkins’ 45-yard field goal that went wide left.

On Ohio State’s last drive, Simmons forced a holding call (Austin Siereveld was in the game at right tackle after Phillip Daniels left earlier with an apparent injury), which put the Buckeyes 85 yards from the end zone with 17 seconds on the clock and no timeouts.

***

The Texas offensive line came up big in the second half. Kyle Flood’s group reestablished the line of scrimmage in critical situations; two of the first downs the Longhorns gained on their game-winning drive were on the ground, which doesn’t include Hollywood Smothers going over the top for the winning score with 25 seconds left in regulation.

***

Will Muschamp’s defense was up against in the first half. The offense’s inability to put together drives led to awful field position; 31 of Ohio State’s 37 first-half snaps (83.8 percent) were in Texas territory.

With the Longhorns getting their act together on offense, the Buckeyes only ran 10 of their 26 second-half snaps (38.5 percent) on Texas’ side of the field. Texas winning the play differential in the second half played a big role in the Longhorns limiting Ohio State to 5.1 yards per play (6.5 in the first half) and a 1-for-6 mark on third down (5-for-8 in the first half).

***

The All-22 film of Manning’s night will be picked apart in the coming week.

Manning's first two and a half quarters were a worst-case scenario for any quarterback in a big game. When he wasn’t missing reads or open windows, Manning’s receivers let him down.

With a comfortable lead, Matt Patricia dropped defenders into coverage to deny him deep shots. Thankfully, things changed on the Longhorns’ last three possessions and by the time he ripped a second-and-7 completion to Mosley for 19 yards down the Ohio State 1-yard line with 1:19 to play, he was locked in and dealing.

Manning went 8-for-11 for 67 yards and a touchdown on the second play of the fourth quarter (a 3-yard toss to Ryan Wingo). Manning's second half (16-for-23 for 136 yards) was much better than his first two quarters (7-for-14 for 60 yards and an interception).

Manning's two most important completions came on fourth down: a fourth-and-6 scramble that resulted in a 9-yard completion to Emaree Winston en route to the first touchdown of the game and a 12-yard strike to Mosley on fourth-and-6 to keep a 13-play, 72-yard touchdown drive alive.

Even though Smothers (21 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns) and Raleek Brown (54 yards on 10 carries) helped the offense grind out long drives in the second half, Manning wasn’t a bus driver on Saturday. In program history, only Colt McCoy (2006 over Texas Tech and 2007 over Oklahoma State) and Vince Young (2004 over Oklahoma State) quarterbacked Texas to bigger comeback wins than the one Manning engineered over the Buckeyes.

It wasn’t always pretty, but Manning executed when it was do-or-die down the stretch, which is what the great ones do.

***

It’s going to take a minute to process everything that happened on Saturday.

What felt like another chapter in the ongoing saga of the Longhorns failing to deliver when sharing the stage with Ohio State instead became an epic comeback, capping an unforgettable week on the Forty Acres. Instead of another version of Texas’ previous losses to the Buckeyes or Georgia, the Longhorns went back into their bag from last year’s comeback win over Texas A&M.

Down at halftime after a mostly listless first half against a top-five opponent, Texas dug deep and gutted out a victory the hard way.

Thankfully, that’s the performance the Longhorns replicated.

 

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I like all of these Simmons should have had more of an impact, the subtle contributions should be bigger ones my thought. 
 

Arch gotta stop staring and primary receivers and missing reads, it happens but he’s to tenured for that, will haunt if not fixed.

running game won it, period.

[Jbro52]

39 minutes ago, HookemChappy said:

Who is 99? Looked big for Wesley

It was Jordan Coleman I believe 

[Jbro52]

Just now, Jbro52 said:

It was Jordan Coleman I believe 

@Jeff Howe beat me to it

[Nathan Larson]

46 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

I didn't mention this in my Snap Judgments, but y'all — the Texas fans — needed this one, too. I prepared myself for another valiant effort against Ohio State to come up short. I think what the core group of this team went thought last year in Starkville and against Texas A&M had them better prepared for the final moments than they were in 2024 or 2025.

We have the team the credit because they we're starting to take over and the second half the reason the fans stayed engaged is because we saw it. Normally the stadium would have half empty but it wasn't. They need each other to feed off. The louder the stadium the more mentally is because your concentrating so hard.

My clue things maybe changing was muffed punt recovery then fumble recovery. Next miss field goal and goalline fumble but play was ruled dead. You have to have the bounces go your way also. 

[Coreyh14]

3 hours ago, Dread-headed Texan said:

😂 to you young bucks out there, I hate y'all and can't wait til y'all hit your 40s. I know I'm not the only one hung over this morning. Last night was worth every drink. This morning though I hate life🤘🏿

Do we know if it was a good night in Austin as Arch predicted ?