How Texas Longhorns Position Groups Graded Out vs. Arkansas

The Texas Longhorns desperately needed a much better performance this week than they put together a week ago in their loss against Georgia. And the Longhorns got exactly what they needed after a dominant blowout 52-37 victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks, which was the first time Texas scored 50 points in a game since 2019.

Texas won’t have the chance to linger and wait around when it comes to its opponent next weekend, with a battle against bitter rival the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies. The Lone Star Showdown returns to Austin for the first time since the rivalries’ renewal, with the undefeated Aggies looking to punch their ticket to the SEC championship game and the Longhorns trying to salvage any chance at the postseason.

Taking a closer look at the Longhorns after their comfortable win against the Razorbacks, here are this week’s position group grades.

Anytime you can be the first player ever to do something in Texas program history, you know it was a good day, as Arch Manning had a career day against the Razorbacks.

Manning finished the game 18 of 30 passing for a career high 389 yards, four touchdowns, an impressive 91.7 quarterback rating, a rushing touchdown, and a receiving touchdown, becoming the first player in Longhorns history to ever pass, run, and catch a touchdown in a single game.

Manning looked comfortable in the pocket and confident under duress finding deep shots throughout the day, the quarterback is finally playing the way people expected and at the perfect time.

It’s been a constant struggle to find any sort of rhythm and reliable running game that the Longhorns could depend on.

While the Longhorns did get a push on a few carries with leading running back Quintrevion Wisner finishing the game with 67 yards on 15 carries, the Razorbacks running defense had been one of the worst in the SEC, and the Longhorns were not able to take advantage of that fact.

After last week’s drop fest in Athens, the Longhorns’ pass catchers shone against the Arkansas secondary, with all of their main receivers having big days. Wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. had his best game as a Longhorn with his three catches for 74 yards, all of which were for touchdowns. Wide receiver Parker Livingstone was a deep threat, averaging 52 yards per reception with two receptions for 104 yards and a passing touchdown on the trick play.

Receivers Ryan Wingo and Emmett Mosley also made themselves present, both totaling 81 receiving yards, with Wingo having six receptions and Mosley recording four. Even tight end Jack Endries got involved with two receptions for 49 yards.

The Longhorns’ offensive line has been finding a rhythm throughout the back half of the season, even while giving up three sacks last week in Athens. The protection held up, and on Saturday against the Razorbacks, the unit did more than enough to help out the offense.

For just the third time this season, the Longhorns’ offensive line kept Manning clean by not allowing a single sack throughout the matchup, and in terms of run blocking, the unit cleaned up better than it has, allowing just two tackles-for-loss.

Saturday was not the best performance out of the Longhorns’ defense, giving up a total of 512 yards of offense to the Razorbacks, 324 of the yards through the air and 188 on the ground.

While the Texas defense was able to slow down the Razorbacks’ offense in the second half before running up the score and the Longhorns brought in the backups, the first half was rough. The game started with a long 40-yard rip by the Arkansas running back on the first play from scrimmage. The Texas defense allowed 105 rushing yards just in the first quarter, the first time that happened all season. The first half ended with Arkansas totaling 253 yards of total offense, 157 of those on the ground.

However, there were bright spots; the Longhorns were able to continue creating turnovers, with an interception by Jelani McDonald that was cashed into points by the offense, and then a sack-fumble from Colin Simmons turned into a fumble return for a touchdown by Liona Lefau.

After what was a disastrous showing of special teams play a week ago, it was back to normal for the Longhorns’ special teams unit.

Kicker Mason Shipley was perfect, converting all of his kicks: one 44-yard field goal and then all seven of his extra points. Punter Jack Bouwmeester continued being a weapon with his three punts netting 109 yards and two of which were downed inside the opposing team’s 20-yard line. And return man Ryan Niblett had just one opportunity, returning a kickoff for 19 yards.

While no game-changing plays came on the third phase of the game, an outing with no mistakes on special teams will be very much welcomed after last week’s game.