Texas

Arch Manning’s first big moment for Texas football, plus 2 SEC close calls

Published

1 year ago

September 15, 2024

Arch Manning’s first big moment for Texas football, plus 2 SEC close calls

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Cal coach Justin Wilcox used the ref’s microphone to beg fans to stop throwing cards on the field because the Bears were being hit with 15-yard penalties. Just another night with ACC After Dark.

Manning’s Moment

Texas backup accounts for 5 TDs

Texas’ Quinn Ewers, who has looked like the best quarterback in the country this season, exited the Longhorns’ 56-7 win against UTSA in the second quarter with a strained abdomen. After the game, coach Steve Sarkisian said the injury was non-contact and that the seriousness of it “remains to be seen.”

Ewers’ absence opened the door for backup Arch Manning, nephew of Peyton and Eli and grandson of Archie, to record his first extended game time for Texas. His final stat line: 9-for-12 for 223 yards, four TDs, plus three carries for 53 yards and one score. I asked The Athletic’s Texpert, Sam Khan to break down the 19-year-old’s performance for us today:

“He showed off all the traits that made him such a coveted recruit. He was accurate, decisive, showed off his arm strength and his athleticism.

“His 67-yard touchdown run, on his third play of the game, showed just how athletic he is. ‘I think he got his grandpa’s athleticism, I don’t know if he got his uncles’,” coach Steve Sarkisian joked.

“But his arm talent was also evident. His final touchdown pass to Johntay Cook was perfectly placed in the back corner of the end zone. Earlier in that drive, he scrambled to his left and uncorked a beauty to freshman Ryan Wingo.

“More than anything, Manning looked comfortable, which is encouraging considering how little playing time he has had since arriving. This was just his fourth career appearance and only his second with more than two series of action. If Ewers misses time and the Longhorns must start Manning, it looks like they’ll be in great hands.” — Khan

SEC Heartbreakers

The upsets that could have been

The underdogs made convincing cases but fell just short of pulling off big wins.

💔 Kentucky drops a 13-12 decision to No. 1 Georgia. There’s just something about Georgia and Kentucky’s Kroger Field. Two years after skating by in a low-scoring 16-6 win and four years after winning 14-3, the No. 1 Bulldogs once again were tested in Lexington. Kentucky led 6-3 at halftime and held the Bulldogs without a TD through three quarters. But Kirby Smart’s team did just enough in the second half to win, even if it marked the lowest-scoring Georgia performance since Sept. 4, 2021, against Clemson. Kentucky has gone two straight weeks without scoring a TD (but, for the record, nobody has reached the end zone against Georgia this season).

💔 South Carolina had a prime opportunity to top No. 16 LSU but lost 36-33. The Gamecocks surged to a 17-0 lead early. But as LSU closed the gap, two South Carolina pick sixes were called back because of penalties, only further opening the door for the Tigers. The Gamecocks attempted a 49-yard field goal to tie the score as time expired, but the kick veered just left. LSU made plenty of mistakes, but South Carolina couldn’t hold onto its lead to pull out the early conference win despite the Tigers looking extremely vulnerable.

Week 3 Trending

FSU still falling, Texas A&M rises

📉 In case you haven’t checked, Florida State, which entered this season as the No. 10 team in the country, still hasn’t won. The Seminoles lost 20-12 to Memphis (where Mike Norvell was head coach from 2016-19 before being hired away to Tallahassee) to fall to 0-3. At one point, QB DJ Uiagalelei was 5 of 5 passing for 7 yards. It was another embarrassing performance that begs the question: How does a team win 13 games one year and turn into an absolute train wreck the next?

📈 Texas A&M beat Florida 33-20 in a game that felt much more one-sided. It marked the Aggies’ first true road win since Oct. 16, 2021, and they did so with backup QB Marcel Reed (starter Conner Weigman was out with a shoulder injury). Meanwhile, it feels like Florida coach Billy Napier’s seat is getting hotter and hotter.

📉 Wisconsin has been trending this way for a while, but a 42-10 romp by No. 4 Alabama — the Badgers’ worst home defeat in 16 years — exposed how far Luke Fickell’s program is from success. Wisconsin QB Tyler Van Dyke exited the game with a right knee injury, but the Badgers’ issues run far deeper than the quarterbacks. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide solidified themselves as College Football Playoff frontrunners. Next up? No. 1 Georgia.

📈 No. 18 Notre Dame recovered from last week’s shocking loss to Northern Illinois with a 66-7 win at Purdue. It was the Fighting Irish’s largest win since 1996. Both QB Riley Leonard and RB Jeremiyah Love rushed for 100 yards. (If you’re curious about Northern Illinois, the Huskies did not play.)

Early Rivalry Fun

Backyard Brawl brings the heat

A few West Coast rivalries were in action yesterday (No. 12 Utah rallied to beat Utah State 38-21 and Colorado bounced back to beat Colorado State 28-9). As for the revenge of the Pac-12 …

No. 9 Oregon woke up in its 49-14 beatdown of Oregon State. The Ducks were lights-out in the second half, outgaining the Beavs 330-89 and outscoring them 27-0. Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel completed 20-of-24 passes for 291 yards and two TDs while rushing for 64 yards and a score. Special points for the uniform matchup in this one — it was crisp. And while Oregon State’s future looks clearer after Pac-12 expansion, the future of this Civil War rivalry remains in question.
Washington State won the Apple Cup, 24-19 win against Washington. WSU QB John Mateer threw for 245 yards and one TD while leading the Cougars on the ground with 16 carries for 62 yards and another two TDs. The Cougars solidified the neutral-site win at the Seahawks’ stadium with a late goal-line stand.

But it was a rivalry in the East that stole the show:

The Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pitt proved to be one of the most exciting games yesterday. The Panthers were victorious 38-34, marking their second consecutive come-from-behind win. The Mountaineers’ Justin Robinson made a one-handed TD catch in the fourth quarter that was highlight-worthy, but Pitt scored two TDs in the final 3:06. Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi didn’t shy away from his thoughts on the officiating: “We beat West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl, and we beat the officials, too, in the same game,” he said. Narduzzi’s Panthers had 12 penalties for 112 yards while WVU was called for seven for 67 yards.

Quick Snaps

A whooping cough outbreak at Portland State caused the Vikings to call off their game versus South Dakota.

Nebraska is 3-0 for the first time since 2016 with Big Ten play on deck. The Huskers avoided a misstep in a 34-3 win against Northern Iowa yesterday.

What did we learn about the College Football Playoff race in Week 3? The SEC could dominate this year’s field … and one of its teams is still massively underrated.

Read Stewart Mandel’s Final Thoughts from Week 3 here.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

For streaming info on Fubo, click here.

(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)

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Texas

North Texas probation officer accused of pressuring woman on probation for sexual favors, affidavit says

Published

11 hours ago

January 16, 2026

Press Room

North Texas probation officer accused of pressuring woman on probation for sexual favors, affidavit says

Updated on: January 16, 2026 / 3:29 PM CST
/ CBS Texas

A Parker County probation officer was arrested and jailed after allegedly pressuring a woman whose case he oversaw to have sex with him, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by CBS News Texas.

Andy Dillard, 53, faces two charges of official oppression. He is currently out of jail on a $50,000 bond.

The Texas Rangers started investigating Dillard on Jan. 11 after the victim filed a report. She is currently on probation, and claimed that Dillard, a probation officer, who was overseeing her case, sent her graphic text messages and images and asked her for sex.

Andy Dillard.

Texas Rangers

In court papers, the investigating officer said the victim showed him the sexually explicit messages from a phone number registered to Dillard. According to the affidavit, investigators later identified the phone number as an AT&T line registered to Dillard. The victim came forward because she said “she was afraid of not responding because Dillard was in charge of her freedom and could potentially revoke her probation,” according to a sworn statement from the investigating officer.

The affidavit states the victim told investigators the messages included explicit sexual requests, photographs and a video allegedly sent by Dillard, and that she repeatedly felt harassed and intimidated. She told investigators she had not engaged in sexual intercourse with Dillard but said he continued contacting her and trying to arrange meetings.

Official oppression is a Class A misdemeanor in Texas. If convicted, Dillard faces up to one year in jail on each count. The charges allege Dillard acted under color of his office as a public servant while supervising the woman’s probation case.

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Chart: Solar is finally bigger than coal in Texas

Published

23 hours ago

January 16, 2026

Press Room

Chart: Solar is finally bigger than coal in Texas

Texas just hit a huge milestone: It got more electricity from solar than it did from coal last year, a first for the second-biggest state in the country.

That’s a big shift from a few years prior. Back in 2020, the Texas grid got just 2% of its electricity from solar power and 18% from coal, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid for the vast majority of the state. In 2025, nearly 14% of ERCOT’s electricity came from solar — and just under 13% was produced by burning coal.

It makes sense that solar has taken off in Texas. Two things it has in spades are sunshine and land, and ERCOT’s competitive markets and fast interconnection processes are appealing to solar developers. In recent years, the state’s solar boom helped create one of the nation’s hottest markets for grid batteries, which in turn has strengthened the business case for installing even more solar.

Meanwhile, coal has been declining in Texas for more than a decade, knocked off balance first by a combination of fracked gas and cheap wind power.

Overall, however, fossil fuels still produce the majority of Texas’s electricity. The state got 54% of its power last year from coal and gas, with the latter fuel serving as Texas’ biggest source of electricity by a long shot.

It’s worth noting that solar beat out coal in what was a comeback year for the fossil fuel, in Texas and beyond. After two years of declines, coal generation jumped by 8% in Texas in 2025. But because solar grew so fast — by a staggering 41% last year — the clean-energy source eclipsed coal anyway.

Not everyone in Texas is happy about the rising tide of solar.

Some state Republicans have tried and failed, several times now, to limit the growth of clean energy. Instead, they’d like to see the construction of natural gas plants to meet the state’s surging electricity demand. But Texas faces the same reality as the rest of the country: Solar and storage are simply too cheap and easy to deny.

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Texas

Texas Longhorns Add Major Piece to Offensive Line From Transfer Portal

Published

1 day ago

January 15, 2026

Press Room

Texas Longhorns Add Major Piece to Offensive Line From Transfer Portal

The Texas Longhorns are making a major addition to their offensive line through the transfer portal once again.

And no, it’s not quite yet a commitment from Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton.

However, Texas is still beefing up its offensive line in a massive way.

Texas Lands Wake Forest OT Transfer Melvin Siani

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and team gesture after the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Per report from On3’s Hayes Fawcett, Texas has landed a commitment from Wake Forest offensive lineman transfer Melvin Siani, who has reportedly already signed with the team. He allowed just nine pressures and zero sacks on 858 snaps at left tackle this season, per CJ Vogel of OnTexasFootball.

Siani’s commitment to Texas comes only a few hours after he entered the portal on Thursday with a “do not contact” tag. The Longhorns moved in quickly and got the deal done.

Siani started his college career at Temple, where he appeared in 15 games with nine starts for the Owls during the 2023 and ’24 seasons.

He then transferred to Wake Forest last offseason and played just one year for the Demon Deacons before hitting the portal again.

Siani now joins a Texas portal class that features Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman, NC State running back Hollywood Smothers, LSU lineman Zion Williams, Arizona State running back Raleek Brown, Pitt linebacker Rasheem Biles, Florida State linebacker Justin Cryer, Oregon State offensive lineman Dylan Sikorski, Texas A&M offensive lineman Jonte Newman, Michigan State tight end Michael Masunas and Arkansas defensive end Ian Geffrard.

Additionally, the Longhorns added three players to their special teams unit in Memphis kicker Gianni Spetic, Florida State punter Mac Chiumento and New Mexico long snapper Trey Dubuc.

What This Means for Texas’ Pursuit of Jordan Seaton

Colorado Buffalos offensive tackle Jordan Seaton against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

All eyes remain on the decision of Colorado offensive lineman transfer Jordan Seaton, who is currently the top player available in the portal with the transfer window nearing a close.

Some fans might think that Siani’s addition means the Longhorns are out on Seaton, but that’s not necessarily the case quite yet. Time will tell how things play out in that regard.

Texas still has a visit set with Seaton in Austin on Friday and will need to close the deal to avoid a team like the Oregon Ducks pouncing on the Colorado transfer. The Longhorns are also hosting Jacksonville State offensive tackle Mason Barton for a visit.

Siani’s commitment is still big for Texas when it comes to adding another body to an offensive line room where the depth is thin, but Seaton remains the priority for the Longhorns.

Texas has already retained multiple important names on the offensive line, including offensive tackle Trevor Goosby and center Connor Robertson, but have also lost offensive lineman Nick Brooks.

But regardless of what happenes with Seaton, Texas can feel good about its depth with Siani, Newman and Sikorski joining the fold.

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