Throughout its first four games of the season, Texas football has been nothing short of productive on both sides of the ball. The defense had allowed just two touchdowns from its opponents, while the offense was averaging over 500 total yards per game.

But that same team was unable to bring its usual efficiency and dominance against Mississippi State on Saturday. A messy first half left fans and spectators to do a double take as the Longhorns nearly rolled into halftime with a mere one-point lead, extended with less than a minute left in the second quarter due to a 49-yard touchdown pass caught by sophomore wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr.

A fumble in the first and third quarters highlighted an offense plagued by self-inflicted wounds, including eight offensive penalties for a loss of 65 yards. The Longhorns were only able to convert on 41.7 percent of third downs, and a failed 4th-and-3 attempt after taking a successful field goal off the board in the third quarter left Texas stuck with an eight-point lead.

Texas was still able to pull off a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs, finding offensive rhythm in the second half of the game as quarterback Arch Manning completed all but one of 12 pass attempts.

Although the Longhorns gave up two field goals in the first half and a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, head coach Steve Sarkisian praised one of the crucial elements that went into their first SEC victory during his post game press conference.

“[I give] a lot of credit to our defense to put out those fires when some of those miscues occurred on the offensive side of the ball,” Sarkisian said. “They were on the field a ton in the first half of this game. They had 21 minutes that they were on the field, and then we were able to kind of even it out a little in the second half. But a credit to those guys to keep us kind of just hanging in there like a total team at halftime.”

The Texas secondary recorded six sacks, the most in a game this season, and 72 total tackles. Despite giving up a total of 150 rushing yards and 144 passing yards, Mississippi State was unable to turn those into scoring opportunities until its first touchdown came in the fourth quarter due to a communication error.

The Bulldogs were held to just 28 offensive yards in the third quarter and 95 in the fourth, and Texas was able to even out the time of possession to be in its favor.

“I think right now we’re playing a really good team defense, and I think the run defense is complimenting the pass defense, and vice versa,” Sarkisian said. “This is a challenging offense that we played today because of the big splits that they put you in. And we kind of went in saying, we’re going to make these people earn it.”

Senior defensive back Jahdae Barron said the team understands that when the scale of production is uneven, the other side of the ball knows to pick up the work load.

“Sometimes the defense may slack, the offense may slack. That’s what the team’s for, you’re there to pick up your brothers when things are not going their way, so they can get on board,” Barron said. “So at the end of the day, I think it was a good win for us. We finished out the right way.”

Texas will enter a bye week before traveling to Dallas for the program’s annual Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma on Oct. 12, giving it ample time to clean up mistakes and come back ready for another SEC win.

Alcorn State stayed grounded and pounded Mississippi Valley State on Saturday.

Jacorian Sewell rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown, and the Braves totaled 299 yards on the ground as a team as they beat the Delta Devils 41-21 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Alcorn quarterback Xzavier Vaughn finished with 57 yards and a touchdown rushing, and also completed 8 of 14 passes for 105 yards and a TD.

Sewell had a 55-yard TD run and Vaughn a 5-yard TD in the second quarter as Alcorn raced to a 24-7 halftime lead.
Noah Kiani kicked field goals of 47 and 43 yards for Alcorn State (2-3, 1-0 SWAC).

Defensive back Edwin Summerour had three interceptions for Alcorn, which will host Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. for homecoming.

Mississippi Valley State (0-5, 0-1) quarterbacks Jaydyn Sisk and Ty’Jarian Williams were a combined 17-of-36 passing for 194 yards, with one touchdown and four interceptions.

Jackson State 43, Texas Southern 14
Jacobian Morgan threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, and Jackson State (3-2, 1-0 SWAC) scored 30 points in the second half to pull away from Texas Southern (1-3, 1-1).

Morgan was 13-of-22 passing for 185 yards, and rushed for 96 yards on 12 carries. He scored on a 72-yard run with 7:05 left in the game to start a strong closing surge for Jackson State.

JSU blocked a punt for a safety, and then Travis Terrell Jr. returned the ensuing free kick for a 79-yard touchdown. The 16 points in less than two minutes took JSU’s lead from 27-14 to 43-14.

Belhaven 30, North Carolina Wesleyan 12
Caleb Gallashaw rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown, his brother D’Ante Gallashaw had 88 yards and a TD, and Belhaven (1-3, 1-1 USA South) beat North Carolina Wesleyan (0-4, 0-2).

It was the first career win for Belhaven coach C.J. Nightingale.

Constantine Hontzas kicked two field goals and the Blazers recorded a safety before D’Ante Gallashaw scored on a 29-yard run for their first touchdown.

Belhaven finished with 234 rushing yards as a team.

Millsaps 31, Sewanee 21
Freshman quarterback Cole Canatella threw two touchdown passes to Connor Ladner in the fourth quarter to help Millsaps (3-1, 1-0 Southern Athletic Association) pull away from Sewanee (1-3, 0-1).

Millsaps led 17-14 entering the fourth quarter, and then Canatella and Ladner hooked up for TD passes of 14 and 28 yards to push it to 31-14 with 4:19 remaining.

Canatella finished 31-of-38 passing for 381 yards and three touchdowns, and also scored a rushing TD.

Willie Elliott caught 10 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown, and Ladner had five receptions for 91 yards and the two TDs.

Sewanee quarterback Jacorin Thomas passed for 237 yards and three touchdowns.

Chowan 27, Mississippi College 25
Chowan quarterback Maurice Smith threw three touchdown passes in the first half, and the Hawks (1-1, 1-0 Gulf South Conference) held off a comeback by Mississippi College (0-4, 0-2) in the second half to win on Saturday.

Smith threw touchdown passes of 28 and 22 yards to Jakobe Lane, and a 37-yarder to Gabrial Jackson to help Chowan take a 27-10 lead at halftime,

Mississippi College scored 15 unanswered points in the second half, on a 20-yard TD pass from Jackson Allen to Javier Batiste and a 21-yard run by Marcus Williams, as well as a safety.

Williams’ touchdown with 4:48 left in the game cut it to 27-25. The two-point conversion was no good, however.
Mississippi College got the ball back with 2:12 left, but did not get a first down and turned it over on downs.

Batiste finished with six receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown for the Choctaws. Four MC quarterbacks combined to complete 27 of 47 passes for 288 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions.