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