Rapid Reaction: Texas blanks Sam Houston as Arch Manning finds his groove
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Should Arch Manning have stared down a defender who could very well be selling insurance in a few years? Maybe not. But after the start to the season the Texas quarterback has endured, could anyone really blame him for letting some emotion out?
Manning ran over a Sam Houston defender after scoring a first-quarter touchdown and then stood over the player. It was the first of 5 touchdowns the embattled QB would account for in a 55-0 demolition of the Bearkats.
After a brutal 3-game stretch to open the season, Manning finally found a groove on Saturday. He completed 18 of his 21 pass attempts for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran for 11 yards and 2 more scores. Perhaps most importantly, Manning didn’t turn the ball over.
It was a clean day. With stiffer competition on the horizon, it was a confidence-boosting day. Manning connected on each of his final 13 passes before handing the keys to the offense off to his understudy early in the third quarter.
He generated 10 explosive pass plays, including 4 plays of at least 35 yards. Manning only had 3 such plays through his first 3 games of the season.
On the other side, the Texas defense continued to suffocate the opposition. Sam Houston managed only 113 yards of offense at 2.2 yards per play. The Bearkats’ rushing attack produced just 27 yards on 26 attempts. Even adjusted for sacks (of which Texas had 5), SHSU averaged just 2.5 yards per run.
The shutout was the fourth of the Steve Sarkisian era. Texas has given up just 4 touchdowns in 4 games.
An off week awaits the Longhorns. After that, they begin SEC play on the road against a reeling Florida squad.
Texas 55, Sam Houston 0
Here’s the Texas-Sam Houston box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Arch Manning vs Hunter Watson
A statistical breakdown of how Texas QB Arch Manning performed compared to Sam Houston’s Hunter Watson:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
