Arch Manning, No. 19 Texas Survive Ole Miss Comeback 34-27 to Snap Two-Game Skid

Coming into Saturday, a good chunk of Texas wanted Arch Manning on the bench. By the end of the night, he had faked a handoff, run a naked bootleg into the end zone against the school his grandfather and uncle made famous, and told everyone he kind of enjoys being doubted.

It was not a clean night. No. 19 Texas led No. 7 Ole Miss 24-3 at halftime and somehow found itself tied 24-24 early in the fourth quarter. But the Longhorns found their footing, leaned on Raleek Brown and survived 34-27 when Jelani McDonald intercepted Trinidad Chambliss in the end zone on the final play. Both teams are now 5-2, and 104,306 people, the fourth-largest crowd in the history of DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, saw every twist.

How Texas got here

Context matters. Texas was No. 1 earlier this season. Then it blew a 10-point lead to an unranked Oklahoma team and a 14-point lead to an unranked Florida team, the second of those coming on one of the wildest Saturdays in years. It was Texas' first losing streak since Steve Sarkisian's first season in 2021. People called for backup KJ Lacey, and Lacey got more first-team reps in practice. The heat in Austin was very real.

So the first half felt like a statement.

The first half: a 21-point statement

Texas opened with a 12-play drive that ended in a 23-yard Gianni Spetic field goal. Lucas Carneiro answered from 46 for Ole Miss, and then Texas took over. Manning punched in a 2-yard run late in the first quarter, then hit Ryan Wingo for a 50-yard touchdown early in the second.

Michael Terry III added a 2-yard run, and it was 24-3. It could have been worse for Ole Miss. Cam Coleman dropped what would have been a 59-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Ole Miss had one real chance before the break. Punter Oscar Bird ran a fake for 17 yards, and the Rebels got all the way to the Texas 2. On fourth-and-goal, Pete Golding passed on the field goal, and Rasheem Biles intercepted Chambliss at the goal line. Golding was still chewing on that one afterward. "What I was really kicking myself about almost is the decision before the half," he said.

Chambliss was 6-of-18 for 63 yards with two interceptions in the first half. Read that again.

Then the wheels came off

The second half started badly for Texas and got worse. Coleman hurt his left shoulder on a diving catch on the first play. Later on that opening drive, left tackle Trevor Goosby was carted off. His replacement, Andre Cojoe, got beat by Blake Purchase, who stripped Manning from the blind side, and Kam Franklin fell on the ball in the end zone for the first touchdown of his career. It was 24-10.

Texas did not just stall after that. It vanished. Ole Miss held the Longhorns to 19 yards of offense over the first 16:03 of the second half. Texas helped the Rebels along with a string of penalties, and Chambliss found Horatio Fields for a 6-yard touchdown to make it 24-17. Fields then beat his man on a 27-yard back-shoulder throw with 13:57 left in the game. Ole Miss had scored 21 straight points, and it was tied.

It got worse. Jalyn Crawford picked off Manning for the second time shortly after the tie. Manning took a sack from Franklin on third-and-16 and had to leave briefly for a medical check. If you follow any Texas fans online, you already know exactly what those 20 minutes looked like.

The response

Here is where this game turns from "same old Texas" into something else. With the season wobbling, Texas went 80 yards without throwing a pass. Brown ripped off a 47-yard run, and Manning faked the handoff and strolled into the end zone on a 1-yard naked bootleg with 8:04 left. That made it 31-24.

Texas had fewer than 90 rushing yards going into the fourth quarter. It ran for 121 in the fourth quarter alone. Sometimes the answer really is that simple.

Ole Miss had one more chance to tie it. Facing fourth-and-10 with about six minutes left, Golding sent Carneiro out for a 58-yard try, and Texas blocked it. "Didn't like our chances on fourth-and-10, and we thought we can make (the field goal)," Golding said. Texas then bled about four minutes off the clock, with Brown adding a 28-yard run, and Spetic made a 33-yarder for a 34-24 lead with 2:25 left.

The final 82 seconds

This should have been over. It was not. Carneiro made a 39-yarder with 1:22 left, and then Ole Miss recovered an onside kick that Emmett Mosley could not handle. It was the Rebels' first onside recovery since 2023.

With no timeouts, Chambliss moved Ole Miss to the Texas 29. On the last play, he threw for the end zone, and McDonald came down with it. McDonald finished with 12 tackles and the interception that sent Austin home happy.

On the field afterward, Manning kept it short with ESPN's Holly Rowe. "We said all week, whatever it takes," Manning said. Then Manning told Rowe to start working more Texas games, since the Longhorns are 3-0 with Rowe on the sideline this year. Superstitions are undefeated.

Who won it, and the numbers behind it

Brown was the best player on the field, with 23 carries for 157 yards. Wingo caught seven passes for 111 yards. Manning's line, 18-of-30 for 212 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions, a lost fumble and two rushing touchdowns, tells you exactly what kind of night it was. Those were his first rushing touchdowns of the season.

On the other side, Chambliss threw 52 times, completing 25 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and a career-high three interceptions. He has thrown a touchdown pass in 20 straight games. Deuce Alexander caught eight passes for 87 yards, and Fields' two touchdown catches were a career high.

Two numbers explain the whole game. Texas committed a season-high 14 penalties for 134 yards, which is how you give back a 21-point lead. And Texas went 5-for-5 scoring in the red zone, which is how you survive it anyway. The Longhorns outgained Ole Miss 419-363 and held the ball for 34:57. Both programs posted recaps, from Texas (opens in a new tab) and from Ole Miss (opens in a new tab), and the Rebels' postgame notes (opens in a new tab) are full of nuggets.

What it means

Texas jumped to No. 11 in the AP poll, and Ole Miss slid to No. 12. A third loss would have put the Longhorns' playoff hopes in real danger. The path from there was simple, if not easy: next on the schedule was a Halloween night home game against Mississippi State, followed by trips to Missouri and LSU.

Ole Miss, which reached the College Football Playoff semifinals last season, had a home game against Auburn next on the schedule for Oct. 31. The Rebels' defense has five interceptions in its last three games, and it will need to keep that up if running back Kewan Lacy, who left this one injured, misses time.

The last word

Sarkisian said Manning played with "fire in his belly" and that the team responds when he does. Manning had his own take.

"I have been hyped up all my life, preseason and all of that stuff," Manning said. "I kind of like being disregarded and counted out."

It is a funny thing to hear from the most famous last name in college football. But for one night in Austin, he played like a guy with something to prove, and Texas looked like a team that still gets a say in how this season ends.

Sources: Texas Athletics and Ole Miss Athletics recaps, Ole Miss postgame notes, The Associated Press, Field Level Media and Saturday Down South. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Ole Miss Athletics, from the official FB at Texas photo gallery.