The Longhorns’ romp snapped several Wolverine winning streaks, including 23 consecutive wins at the Big House and 28 consecutive regular-season victories.

The rosters and coaching staff for both clubs look a lot different ahead of Wednesday’s Citrus Bowl (2 p.m., ABC), the second meeting between No. 13 Texas (9-3, 6-2 SEC) and No. 18 Michigan (9-3, 7-2 Big Ten) in 15 months. Still, interim offensive coordinator Steve Casula and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale were in Ann Arbor for the second all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Longhorns.

Casula, Michigan’s interim offensive coordinator for last season’s ReliaQuest Bowl win over Alabama, said during Sunday’s press conferences at Orlando’s Rosen Plaza Hotel that the Texas defense missing seven starting-caliber players and turning defensive play-calling duties over to Johnny Nansen haven’t changed his view of the Longhorns. Casula cited Nansen’s experience as a defensive coordinator (two seasons at Arizona in 2022 and 2023) and the presence of “a very, very special player” on the edge in second-team All-American Colin Simmons when describing why “ a healthy program, a deep program” like Texas remains a formidable opponent.

“Forget who the players were or what the schemes were or anything,” Casula said. “In totality, they were one of the most well-coached teams, in my opinion, that we've encountered in my time here at Michigan. Our expectation would be that we'd encounter the same thing on Wednesday.”

Over the last two seasons, only five opponents have had better performances against Martindale’s defense than Steve Sarkisian’s offense, which tallied 389 yards of total offense in the second game of the 2024 season (only three opposing offenses have topped the 5.7 yards per play the Longhorns averaged against the Wolverines in Martindale’s 25 games on the job). Even with the Texas running back room going through a significant transition (Kyle Flood said on Sunday that Christian Clark, Ryan Niblett, James Simon and Michael Terry III could all have roles in Wednesday’s game) and DeAndre Moore Jr. preparing to enter the transfer portal, an offense led by Arch Manning, who completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 1,094 yards and seven touchdowns (two interceptions) while rushing for 112 yards (4.2 yards per attempt) and a touchdown against ranked opponents in the regular season, has Martindale’s attention.

“When you had that box of cereal, and you didn't know what the surprise was? It's the same thing going against that offense,” Martindale said. “You're not sure who's going to be there, but they're going to be very talented. It's going to be a great challenge for us.”

With that said, it’s worth painting the backdrop for Sarkisian’s calculated risk.

To understand why the burnt orange faithful love Muschamp, one has to understand the situation he inherited in 2008.

After Greg Robinson and Gene Chizik successfully built on the foundation that Carl Reese built, with the Longhorns fielding elite defenses in 2004 and 2005, the bottom fell out in 2007.

A defense co-coordinated by Akina and Larry MacDuff is still the second-worst pass defense in school history in yards per game allowed (277.8). The 23 passing touchdowns the unit gave up set an all-time single-season high at Texas until Vance Bedford’s 2015 defense was burned for 24 scores through the air (Todd Orlando's 2018 and 2019 defenses established new marks, surrendering 26 and 28 passing touchdowns, respectively).

Much like the 2025 squad, the 2007 Longhorns underachieved compared to preseason expectations.

Texas was in line to play in a BCS bowl until a sloppy performance in College Station ended with a 38-30 loss to Texas A&M in what turned out to be Dennis Franchione’s last game as coach of the Aggies. Mack Brown famously made every starting job open for competition heading into that season’s Holiday Bowl against Arizona State. The Longhorns played largely inspired football, putting forth arguably their best performance of the season in a 52-34 rout of the Sun Devils, a 10-win team under Dennis Erickson that claimed a share of the Pac-10 title.

Still, Brown shook things up, hiring Muschamp away from Auburn to run the defense. The impact was felt in Muschamp's first spring as Texas played defense with a physical, disciplined and maniacal edge it lacked since winning the national championship in 2005.

Muschamp did more than field defenses that played with elite levels of effort, intensity and toughness, harkening back to the days of Mike Campbell and Leon Fuller. He changed the culture across the board, which, along with the evolution of Colt McCoy on offense, spearheaded the Longhorns to a 25-2 record (with a Big 12 title, a BCS championship game appearance and a Fiesta Bowl win over Ohio State) during Muschamp’s first two seasons in Austin.

Fast forward 15 years (the news of Muschamp’s departure to Florida to be Urban Meyer’s successor broke on a massive official visit weekend that coincided with the 2010 Texas team’s postseason banquet), and Sarkisian is in a position where Brown found himself before he hired Muschamp. And it's not where Brown was after he led the program to consecutive 10-3 seasons after the 2005 triumph.

For Sarkisian, this offseason mirrors where Brown’s tenure stood after the 2003 season, which ended with a disappointing Holiday Bowl loss to Washington State.

Reese, who was 60 years old at the time, took the Longhorn defense as far as he could. With Mike Leach and Mark Mangino at the forefront of the spread evolution in the Big 12, top-notch offensive minds gradually figured out how to move the ball and score against Reese’s aggressive defenses, which relied on playing high-level man coverage.

The 59-year-old Kwiatkowski pulled the nose up after a disastrous 2021, leading championship-caliber defenses over the last three seasons. While no guarantee that turning the defense over to Muschamp will get Texas over the hump, the move suggests that Sarkisian made a tough but necessary call.

If the Longhorns are going to ascend to the next level in Sarkisian's sixth season, changes had to be made.

Texas has a plethora of potential difference makers along the defensive front who can enhance what Colin Simmons brings to the table. Graceson Littleton and Kade Phillips are foundational pieces in the secondary.

What the Longhorns can’t have when the dust settles on the 2026 season is the feeling that lingers at the end of Anthony Hill Jr.’s collegiate career. Even though Hill made multiple All-America teams, it’s fair to say that there was meat left on the bone, that Texas didn’t get everything it could out of a game-changing presence in the middle of the defense.

The 54-year-old Muschamp hasn’t been hanging out on the golf course over the last few college football seasons. After his time as Georgia’s co-defensive coordinator ended following the 2023 season, he spent one more season with the Bulldogs as an analyst, making him familiar with SEC offensive play-callers and schemes and, more importantly, the defensive personnel he’s inheriting upon his return to the Longhorns.

Texas is rightfully loading up for what’s expected to be Arch Manning’s last hurrah. Getting the most out of Simmons (a potential early first-round NFL draft pick in 2027) is just as important in the Longhorns’ quest to overtake Georgia for the SEC throne on their way to college football’s summit.

It would be nice to make moves with a multi-year vision for the program in mind. Unfortunately, with the roster volatility that exists in college football, on top of Texas missing the College Football Playoff after two consecutive trips, Sarkisian has to make moves that will maximize the next 12-plus months.

The Muschamp move is the biggest example so far that the Longhorns are approaching 2026 with the mindset of going big or going home.

How much faith does Steve Sarkisian have in Ryan Wingo emerging as a bona fide No. 1 option for Arch Manning?

Leading the Longhorns in receptions (50), receiving yards (770) and touchdown receptions (seven) en route to second-team All-SEC recognition from the league’s coaches constitutes a successful sophomore campaign through 12 games. Still, finishing the regular season with the second-most dropped passes among SEC wide receivers (Wingo’s seven are currently two behind Alabama’s Ryan Williams for the league high), which contributed to Manning suffering from 21 dropped passes, fourth-most among SEC quarterbacks and tied for 21st in FBS, according to Pro Football Focus.

With his 50 catches coming on 87 targets (a 57.5 percent catch rate, according to PFF), Wingo’s 2025 season mirrors what Xavier Worthy went through in 2022.

Worthy’s sophomore season saw him lead Texas with 59 receptions (on 113 targets for a catch rate of 52.2 percent), yards (757) and touchdowns (eight) and drops (seven). The 2024 first-round pick turned things around with an All-American season in 2023, with his 75 receptions for 1,014 yards and five touchdowns (two fewer dropped passes on six more targets from the previous season) helped the Longhorns win the Big 12 and reach the College Football Playoff.

Will Wingo make the same kind of leap in his first draft-eligible season?

— DeAndre Moore Jr.’s decision to jump to the NFL leaves a void in the slot (a team-high 216 snaps according to PFF) and opens a role as Manning’s go-to target in the intermediate passing game. According to PFF, Moore leads the Texas offense in receptions (14) and yards gained (229) when targeted from 10 to 19 yards down the field, accounting for 36.8 percent of the receptions (38) and 43 percent of the yards (522) he tallied in his final season with the Longhorns.

In the intermediate game, Emmett Mosley V’s PFF season grade of 94.9 is higher than Moore’s (94). Mosley is a safe bet to rack up more than the 11 targets he got on intermediate throws.

As for the workload in the slot, Sarkisian has to decide whether a portal acquisition would be an upgrade over a potential tandem of Daylan McCutcheon and Jermaine Bishop Jr. While Sarkisian can’t leave anything to chance in what’s expected to be Manning’s last season behind center, losing Trevor Goosby, Hero Kanu, Jelani McDonald or Quintrevion Wisner to the NFL could force Texas to use its available resources to shore up position groups with greater, more pressing needs.

— With Liona Lefau leaving the program ahead of entering the transfer portal on Jan. 2, Ty’Anthony Smith is at the top of the list of the Longhorns who stand to gain the most leading up to and coming out of the Citrus Bowl against Michigan on New Year’s Eve.

Smith ended the regular season with 364 snaps logged, according to PFF, recording the fifth-best season-long grade against the run (78.9, with PFF considering a grade of 70 to be above average) of any Longhorn defender.

The Jasper product leads the team in forced fumbles (three) and missed tackles (12), showing how often he finds himself around the football. The latter should get better with experience, but the same must be true of Smith’s coverage ability for him to take the next step as a player.

According to PFF, no Texas linebacker has been targeted this season more than Smith (33). Only Graceson Littleton and Jaylon Guilbeau have allowed more completions among Longhorn defensive players than Smith (26), who has allowed 244 yards (fourth-most on the team behind Guilbeau, Littleton and Lefau) and an NFL passer rating of 107.6 when targeted.

With offensive play-callers looking to exploit the second level of the opposing defense when hunting favorable matchups, all linebackers are a liability in coverage in some way, shape or form. Nevertheless, Smith has the tools to be better in coverage than the numbers have shown this season.

The Longhorns planned to use the transfer portal to bolster the linebacker position before Lefau’s decision to enter the transfer portal went public. With Lefau’s production over 42 career games played and 22 starts gone, Texas will look for proven commodities to overhaul the second level of Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense.

Moore, who wasn’t expected back on the Forty Acres in 2026, according to what team sources told On Texas Football in recent weeks, will join Lefau, Ethan Burke, Jaylon Guilbeau, Anthony Hill Jr., Trey Moore, Malik Muhammad and Michael Taaffe in opting out of the Citrus Bowl against Michigan in just over two weeks.

Lefau’s decision to head into the portal, and Hill and Moore focusing on the draft, leaves Texas thin at linebacker for the bowl game, to say the least.

The short-term pinch means a bigger role for Ty’Anthony Smith against the Wolverines, who lead the Big Ten with 32 rushing touchdowns, are second in the conference in yards per rushing attempt (5.51) and rank 16th nationally in rushing yards per game (213.2). Brad Spence could log more playing time at linebacker instead of as a pass rusher off the edge and, potentially, there could be more snaps available for Bo Barnes and Marshall Landwehr.

For better or worse, that’s the price Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns are willing to pay to ensure they’ve got their ducks in a row long before the transfer portal officially opens for business on Jan. 2.

Sarkisian didn’t want to outright say during his signing day press conference on Dec. 3 that following “an NFL draft model” is the best way to approach roster construction. Still, he laid out why the need to be fiscally responsible leads to tough calls on which players to acquire and retain.

“You can only have so much money,” Sarkisian said. “There’s rules, there’s caps and we play within the confines of what the rules (are) that they put in place, so you’ve got to decide what’s the value at the position and what’s the value of certain players. When School B offers more money that’s outside of the value — it’s not endless. You can’t just keep throwing money on top of money on top of money.

“We have to be very specific in (addressing) what are our needs, looking long term as well as short term, of where do you allocate that money?”

Viewing the early signing window as the equivalent of the NFL draft (presumably, that would make the February signing period college football’s version of the supplemental draft, which is a fair comparison because it's becoming less relevant from one recruiting cycle to the next), Sarkisian said Texas landed some “elite first-round picks” in the 2026 class (Tyler Atkinson, Dia Bell, Jermaine Bishop and Richard Wesley are among those who look the part). He also made note of the Longhorns welcoming “high-level second, third and fourth-round picks” into the program ahead of his sixth season as head coach.

Eventually, the newcomers become veterans on various career trajectories. Like NFL rookies, when their contracts are winding down and franchises must decide whether to extend them on longer, more lucrative second contracts or let them become unrestricted free agents, the rising third and fourth-year college players must accept their role for the coming season (even if it’s diminished and comes with a pay cut) or bet on themselves, either as a transfer or in the draft.

Those are the discussions Texas and every other Power Four program eying a championship run are in the process of having with their players. The freedom of movement from which players benefit is the same mechanism that allows coaches to dictate the terms and conditions a player must accept to remain a part of the program.

Between defections to the portal and NFL draft departures, only 10 of the 25 high school signees from the 2023 recruiting class are on track to be a part of the 2026 squad. Trevor Goosby, Jelani McDonald and Quintrevion Wisner are among the 10, meaning the number will go down should any of them declare for the draft.

While the staff has a group of young players they’ll look to develop behind the scenes, the bulk of the roster movement ahead of what figures to be Arch Manning’s last season with the Longhorns will be moves the organization makes with an all-in mindset. It’s not ideal, and it can lead to decisions neither side of the table wants to make, but it’s the nature of the beast given college football’s current structure (or lack thereof).

***

December is for decisions. 

That article was written last week. While little has changed since then, I wanted to provide a Sunday update with another round of decisions and announcements expected in the coming week.

***

NFL Decisions

A couple of Longhorns we are monitoring who will have NFL decisions to make.

• RB Tre Wisner

I have heard both ways for Wisner – pro or returning to Austin. I ever so slightly believe Wisner will return, but we will have to wait for a formal announcement.

• WR DeAndre Moore

It is either the NFL Draft or the transfer portal for DeAndre Moore based off of everything I have gathered over the last month. Right now, the NFL is the likely destination.

• LT Trevor Goosby

Our @Gerry Hamilton had a great update on Goosby late last week, and I have no reason to think differently. 

• C Connor Robertson

Not as much of a true NFL decision, but one will need to be made for Texas and Robertson. I think Texas would like have Robertson back for 2026, but as of now I can't handicap the likelihood of that possibility.

• DL Hero Kanu

A very under the radar decision that could end up having massive implications for the construction and performance of the 2026 roster. With where things sit currently, I would have Kanu returning at a 70–30 clip.

• DB Jelani McDonald

The belief around McDonald's camp is that a strong 2026 season could leave him in a position to be selected in the top 50 of the 2027 NFL Draft. I feel very confident about McDonald returning for next fall as of typing this.

• CB Malik Muhammad

The pros are calling Muhammad's name! The South Oak Cliff product will successfully depart as a 3-and-done player at Texas.

***

Staff Decisions

Steve Sarkisian has already made a move at one position coach spot, with the quick hiring of Jabbar Juluke out of Florida.

That will not be the final coaching change. In fact, I believe a couple of changes are still to come, though the timing of those changes or movements will come following the bowl game against Michigan.

Upon the release of the committee’s penultimate rankings on Tuesday, the path to a third consecutive trip to the CFP for No. 13 Texas is, for all intents and purposes, a dead end. To get into the 12-team field, the Longhorns need Texas Tech to win the Big 12, Georgia to notch a landslide revenge victory over Alabama in the SEC title game and then hope the committee values the body of work Texas has put together throughout one of the toughest 12-game schedules any Power Four team had to navigate (LSU is the only bowl-eligible team ranked above the Longhorns in ESPN’s strength of schedule metric, which says Steve Sarkisian’s team played the eighth-toughest schedule in the country).

That’s unlikely to happen because the committee, based on what committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on Tuesday’s post-reveal conference call with reporters, believes Texas’ 29-21 road loss to Florida on Oct. 4 is too big a blemish to overlook.

“You’re spot on,” the Arkansas athletic director said when he was asked if the loss to the Gators is “the thing hurting Texas the most.”

“The committee has a great deal of respect for Texas and they've played an incredible schedule,” he added. “They've got four teams they played in our top 10. They beat OU on a neutral field. They just beat Texas A&M at home this past weekend. They lost to No. 1, Ohio State, and lost to No. 3, Georgia.

“But one key stat this week in the teams ranked in our top 15, there's 17 total losses for those teams. Sixteen of those losses came against teams that are currently ranked or have been ranked in our top 25 this year. The only loss to an unranked team was Texas' loss to Florida at Florida, and really Florida dominated that game — held Texas to 50 yards rushing, two interceptions. So, it's not that Texas played Ohio State. It is Texas' loss to Florida that's holding them back now.”

We don’t need to read the tea leaves when the committee is shoving them down our throats. When it comes to Texas, the committee has decided that an objectively bad loss supercedes three wins over teams currently ranked in the committee’s top 15.

That would be understandable had Yurachek’s words and the committee's actions done anything other than validate Feldman’s rant. The committee ranks teams as it wants, then works backward to make it make sense.

How is Texas dinged for the Florida loss, but Alabama’s two-touchdown loss to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 after getting blown out by the Gators last Saturday doesn’t matter?

Head-to-head results appear to matter for Oklahoma and Alabama (No. 8 and No. 9, respectively) and Texas and Vanderbilt (the Longhorns passed the 10-2 Commodores in the rankings). That's the case for No. 12 Miami, which opened the season with a win over No. 10 Notre Dame.

Two weeks ago, Yuracheck said Oregon was still getting credit for a road win over Penn State. The same appears to apply to Oklahoma's road win over Tennessee and road wins over Missouri for Alabama and Texas A&M, the Aggies going into Baton Rouge and manhandling LSU and the Crimson Tide's Iron Bowl win over Auburn.

Still, Yuracheck said on Tuesday that Vanderbilt lacks a signature win because LSU, Missouri and Tennessee aren’t currently ranked by the committee, even though Josh Heupel’s team fell out of the rankings after the Commodores’ 45-24 rout of the Volunteers in Neyland Stadium.

The CFP selection process isn’t broken. It would’ve needed to be a well-oiled machine first, which was never the case. And although no system will ever be perfect, a transparent process that leaves more questions than answers isn't working.

Bill Hancock was the executive director of the CFP from its inception through last season, when he helped Rich Clark transition into the role. In 2023, when a late-season injury to quarterback Jordan Travis put Florida State’s CFP hopes in doubt, Hancock clarified the selection committee’s criteria for setting the then-four-team field.

“It is ‘best,’” Hancock said. “‘Most deserving’ is not anything in the committee's lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order, and that's what they do. Just keep that word in mind, ‘best’ teams.”

Therein lies the problem.

Three wins over Associated Press top-five opponents and nine wins against one of the toughest schedules in the country should be a strong enough résumé for the Longhorns to be considered one of the seven best at-large teams. The committee clinging to the Florida loss to justify why Texas should be on the outside looking in is a prime example of how the selection process doesn't end with a bracket of the best teams.

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when Miami’s head-to-head win over Notre Dame, as of now, doesn’t matter.

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when Texas and Vanderbilt, both of whom went 6-2 in the toughest conference in the country, are likely headed to meaningless bowl games. At the same time, Sun Belt favorite James Madison and the winner of the AAC title game between North Texas and Tulane could be among the 12 teams left standing for a chance to win the national championship. Everyone loves the Cinderella story, but how (aside from the money that would go to the AAC and Sun Belt, respectively) is college football better for Group of Five teams getting sacrificed to a legit title contender from the Power Four?

Don’t say you’re picking the best teams when the Longhorns, who played a tougher schedule than any of the other current CFP candidates, appear to be disqualified from consideration solely based on accruing three losses.

Until the goalposts stop moving or the moment comes when the Big Ten and the SEC decide, by force, to dictate the terms of the CFP to the rest of college football (like it or not, it’s coming), we won’t get a field of the best teams deciding a national champion. We'll get whatever the committee decides it wants, criteria or guidelines be dammed.

A fourth flip in the last week goes the way of the Texas Longhorns!

This time, it is Temple EDGE/DL Jamarion Carlton, who had committed to Baylor over the summer.

The Longhorns had hosted Carlton on campus three different times in the last month and sure enough, those efforts were enough to flip the 6-foot-5inch defensive lineman to the Horns.

Carlton was heavily recruited by LaAllen Clark in the spring, got on campus for an official visit and after a brief stint being committed to Baylor, he ends up joining the Texas class.

Big time addition for the Horns on the defensive side of the ball here.

Over the final two quarters of a 27-17 win, Sarkisian schemed up ways to move the football on the ground, Arch Manning kept extending plays with legs and the defense ended the Aggie offense’s last two possessions by intercepting Marcel Reed. The Longhorns dominated their counterparts from College Station, picking up a win that Sarkisian and the program desperately needed.

Texas (9-3, 6-2 SEC) is the first team since LSU in 2019 to win three regular-season games against top-10 teams in the Associated Press Top 25. Two of those wins came over Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1) and Oklahoma, moving the Longhorns to 6-0 against their three rivals (the Aggies, the Sooners and Arkansas) since joining the SEC.

Sarkisian has his third career win over a top-five opponent and his second (2-7) at Texas. Sarkisian’s second consecutive double-digit win over the Aggies marked Mike Elko’s first loss when his team entered halftime with a lead (was previously 15-0).

Most importantly, the Longhorns left the College Football Playoff selection committee with an emphatic closing argument for why they’re worthy of a third consecutive CFP bid.

Texas dominated Texas A&M on the scoreboard (24-7), on the ground (157-74), on offense (285-160 edge in total yards gained) and in the turnover battle (2-0) en route to keeping the Aggies from reaching the SEC Championship Game for the second year in a row.

Friday’s win wasn’t a fluke. Texas suffocated Texas A&M over the last 30 minutes of regulation, looking like the team everyone in the country expected to see from the jump in 2025.

The Longhorns can’t do anything except wait for the selection committee’s final verdict next Sunday. Regardless, an unforgettable second-half effort has them in the mix with the regular season in the books.

***

Sarkisian’s play-calling and game management changed after a forgettable end to the first half.

He put the game in Quintrevion Wisner’s hands and the junior delivered with 155 yards on 19 carries. Wisner’s 48-yard burst over the left side of the line on the offense’s first snap of the third quarter set the tone for the second half.

Texas didn’t overpower the Aggies up front. Instead, the Longhorns used Texas A&M’s aggression and tendency to attack the line of scrimmage to their advantage, utilizing a mix of misdirection runs and pull schemes.

The approach allowed Wisner and Manning (53 yards and a touchdown on seven official attempts) to exploit gaping holes at the line of scrimmage. 

The best example of how potent the Longhorn rushing attack was on Friday was the explosive runs. Texas, which entered the game with 14 10-plus-yard runs in SEC play, had nine against Texas A&M, including six in the second half.

***

Whether it was run blocking or pass protection, Friday’s second half might’ve been the best job Sarkisian has done this season of helping the offensive line and not asking Kyle Flood’s group to do things it couldn’t pull off. Manning's 35-yard touchdown run up the gut with 7:04 left in the game closed out the scoring and answered a 6-play, 59-yard touchdown drive by the Aggies.

Manning (14-for-29, 179 yards and a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo) had times where he had to work around pressure from an A&M defense that finished the game with two sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Still, Texas wouldn’t have won the game without the offensive line (led by DJ Campbell and Cole Hutson, who took the field at DKR for the last time) winning their battle against one of the most productive defensive fronts in the country.

***

Similar to how Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski won their chess match against Brent Venables and the Oklahoma staff in October, the Longhorn coaches got the best of Elko and Collin Klein on Friday.

Elko’s defense surrendered 218 rushing yards (the most by Texas against a Power Four opponent this season) to an offense that came into Friday's game averaging 75.3 rushing yards per game in SEC play. Along with leaning on the ground attack, Sarkisian called a tendency-breaking jet sweep for Nick Townsend on the goal line, resulting in a 3-yard touchdown run (after Manning and Jack Endries connected for a 54-yard gain) to highlight how his staff befuddled the Aggies after halftime.

The Longhorns won the explosive play battle (13-9) thanks in part to Kwiatkowski’s defense, which held Texas A&M to 17 points on five red-zone possessions. Texas also limited the Aggies to season lows in yards per play (4.6) and rushing yards (157) and total offense (337 yards). After allowing a late first-half touchdown on a short field, the Longhorns held the Aggies to 44 net yards on 15 plays (2.9 yards per play) and one first down while forcing four punts (three three-and-outs) on Texas A&M’s first four possessions of the second half to help the Longhorns pull ahead for good.

***

One of the most raucous home crowds for a Texas football game helped the defense during the unit’s stretch of dominance.

Two false starts on fourth-and-1 forced two of the Aggies’ four consecutive punts in the second half. In a game pitting two of the nation’s most penalized teams against each other, the DKR crowd played a big role in the Longhorns winning the penalty battle (seven accepted penalties to Texas A&M’s eight) for just the third time this season (also had fewer penalties than Oklahoma and Arkansas in those rivalry wins).

***

Instead of trying to digest the merits of a nine-win regular season in the face of national championship expectations, I’d encourage Longhorn fans to savor the flavor of their team notching a well-earned victory over the Aggies.

It’s been a tough year at times and nobody knows what's next for Texas. Nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with celebrating the Longhorns ending the regular season with nine wins, an undefeated home record and a résumé worthy of a trip to the CFP is nothing to belittle.

***

Bang!

Two days, two commits for the Texas Longhorns, both of which coming out of Georgetown High!

Kaden Scherer becomes the latest to join the Texas 2026 class and it comes on the heels of an official visit over the weekend with the Horns.

Scherer, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive line, said he grew up rooting and watching the Longhorns as a kid in Georgetown and when the offer came in, it was a very big deal for him.

Texas adds another offensive lineman to the class. Scherer told me last week Texas was pitching both tackle and guard to him, wanting to see how he would develop and progress physically.

The career-high 389 yards Manning threw for and six touchdowns he accounted for (he and Bobby Layne as the only quarterbacks in school history to throw for, rush for and catch a touchdown in a single game) in Saturday’s 52-37 win over Arkansas earned him a Manning Award Star of the Week nod, a spot on the Davey O’Brien Award’s “Great 8” list and recognition as the Associated Press National Player of the Week. Manning’s historic afternoon made him the first Texas (8-3, 5-2 SEC) quarterback to record three 300-yard passing games in a four-game stretch since Colt McCoy in 2009, one in which Manning (against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Arkansas) has accounted for 14 touchdowns (11 passing, two rushing and one receiving).

Doing his part to keep the Longhorns in the hunt for a third consecutive berth in the College Football Playoff over the team’s last four games, Manning is completing 65.1 percent of his passes (99 for 152). He's thrown for 1,314 yards and just two interceptions heading into Friday’s showdown with the Aggies at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

The game has slowed down for Manning and, as a result, he’s thriving, Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. While praising Manning’s continued growth as a progression passer and decision maker, Sarkisian said that how the redshirt sophomore quarterback overcame his early-season struggles has led to Manning’s play becoming, arguably, the biggest strength of a Texas team standing between Texas A&M (11-0, 7-0) and its first-ever trip to the SEC title game.

“I don't know if any college player has gone through what he went through before he even was the full-time starter,” Sarkisian said. “Part of that is his last name, part of it is our brand. I think those two things coming together made this such a big storyline before the season, but none of it was anything due to what Arch was doing. He just kept focusing on what he needed and tried to do. I'm sure there were moments when it was a lot — maybe, even overwhelming — but, to his credit, the guy showed so much resolve and resiliency and stick-to-itiveness to the task at hand. It wasn't a perfect journey to get to this point, but sometimes, it's good not to have a perfect journey. Sometimes, taking a road less traveled is good for you.

"I said this earlier in the year — he was going to benefit from the journey that he had to go on and that he could learn how to overcome some of the adversity that he was faced with and some of the criticism he was faced with," he added. "I think he's better and stronger for it today and I'm really proud of him.”