AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 1 Texas Longhorns held the UTSA Roadrunners without a touchdown for the first time since Oct. 31, 2020. The Longhorns won 30-6 on Saturday night before 103,753 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. UTSA had found the end zone at least once in 74 consecutive games coming in.
Texas improved to 3-0 in its last game before Southeastern Conference play, a week after the 24-23 win over Ohio State that moved the Longhorns to No. 1, while UTSA fell to 2-1.
Arch Manning completed 17 of 33 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns, both to Cam Coleman, and ran 9 times for 50 yards before leaving with about six minutes remaining. It was his 12th career game with multiple touchdown passes, and he is now 11-0 as a starter at home.
Manning put the SEC opener in Knoxville on the line when he graded his own night.
“Ultimately not good enough. I didn’t play well,” Manning said. “Offense, we were a little sloppy. Got to be better if we want to beat Tennessee.”
After Coleman’s second touchdown early in the second quarter, Texas scored 1 more touchdown across its final 9 possessions.
“It’s not good. Disappointed in how we played, how I played,” Manning explained. “Got to be better.”
Linebacker Rasheem Biles intercepted Owen McCown on the first play from scrimmage for UTSA’s first turnover of the season. The Roadrunners had been one of 20 FBS teams without a turnover entering the week. The takeaway was Texas’ first on an opponent’s opening play since Sept. 8, 2018. It also extended the Longhorns’ streak of home games with a forced turnover to 26, the longest active run in FBS.
Four plays after the pick, Manning found Coleman for a 24-yard touchdown with 13:34 left in the first quarter. Michael Petro answered with a 34-yard field goal to finish a 13-play UTSA drive, and Gianni Spetic made a 52-yarder for a 10-3 lead. Coleman caught a 3-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, and Spetic hit from 34 yards with 10 seconds left in the half to make it 20-3.
UTSA’s Braydon Doane made a 43-yard field goal early in the third quarter before Spetic answered from 23 yards. Freshman Derrek Cooper then scored his first career touchdown on a 1-yard run with 8:57 to play, carrying 7 times on the 8-play, 66-yard drive. Cooper finished with 44 yards on 11 carries. Coleman led Texas with 4 catches for 59 yards in his fourth career game with multiple touchdowns.
Spetic tied his career high with 3 made field goals. The 52-yarder matched the third-longest of his career, and he has made 7 of his last 8 attempts from 50 yards or more dating back to 2023.
Texas Defense Holds UTSA To 142 Yards
The Longhorns held UTSA to 72 rushing yards and 70 passing yards. McCown completed 14 of 23 passes for 70 yards and an interception. Over UTSA’s final 9 drives, Texas allowed 84 yards on 32 plays and forced 8 punts.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opened his postgame news conference with the defense.
“I felt like our defense, first of all, had a phenomenal game. Talk about answering the bell,” Sarkisian said. “We talked about being intentional, trying to go get the ball. The first play of the game was Rasheem Biles’ interception, and I think that just set the tone defensively.”
“Obviously they have the one drive where they kind of got the ball to the edge on us, and after that, I think we had 10 straight third-down stops on defense,” Sarkisian continued. “Just really effective against the run and the pass, so that that was a real positive.”
UTSA’s lone third-down conversion came on a 2-yard run by A’Marion Peterson during its first scoring drive, and the Roadrunners finished 1-of-11.
The interception was Biles’ second of the season and fifth of his career.
“My first pick, I was like, ‘Dang!’ Like as soon as I came inside, I’m like, ‘I just broke my streak of not going to the crib,’” Biles said. “Then I was like, ‘this means I’m going to have a lot of picks this year.’ Like I tell my mom that, so I’m like, ‘If I don’t take one to the crib, that just mean I’m gonna have a lot.’”
“So my second one, three games, I could have probably had another one in game two, so just got to keep trying, racking them up, and toss to Bevo,” Biles continued. “I’m probably done with that though. I’ve got to find a different celly (celebration). Probably go to the student section or something.”
Texas held UTSA to 3.0 yards per play, with McCown averaging 3.0 yards per pass attempt.
“We just executed at a higher level,” Biles explained. “We were more dialed in on the game plan. We just executed better.”
Edge rusher Colin Simmons, a preseason All-American, had a first-half sack and sat out the second half. He left the field after the game in street clothes with a medical boot on his right leg. Sarkisian said he did not believe the injury was serious and that Simmons was held out as a precaution.
“I’m never going to apologize for good defense,” Sarkisian said.
Texas Runs For 228 Yards Before Trip To Tennessee
Texas outgained UTSA 400-142, ran 83 plays to UTSA’s 47, and held the ball for 36:51. Hollywood Smothers led five Longhorns with at least 35 rushing yards, finishing with 54 on 10 carries, as Texas ran for 228 yards on 48 attempts. Raleek Brown added 41 yards, and Michael Terry III carried 7 times for 39 on the final drive, which ran off the last 5:45.
“I thought it was good that we ran the ball. I thought it was good that some other guys got in there to run it. Derrek [Cooper], Michael Terry, there at the end,” Sarkisian explained. “There’s nothing better than to get the ball at the end of the game and to and to bleed the clock out and run it and finish with the ball in our possession.”
UTSA was penalized 12 times for 115 yards. Texas was flagged 8 times for 88 yards after drawing 6 penalties across its first two games.
“I just felt like, offensively, we started off in a pretty good groove, and then it was just kind of a choppy game,” Sarkisian said. “It just felt choppy, and when you look at the stats, there were 20 penalties in the game of about 200 yards, and so the flow of the game just could never really get going for us offensively.”
Manning took several hard hits on scrambles and had his helmet knocked off in a second-quarter collision, The Associated Press reported.
“Arch kind of fell in love with his legs a little bit tonight. His legs are a weapon,” Sarkisian said. “(But) we don’t want to make a living with him running the ball as much as he did tonight.”
Asked about the offense’s identity, Sarkisian pointed first to the rushing total.
“I think our identity is good. Hey, we walk out of a game and we rush for nearly 230 yards. I’m ecstatic about that because so much of what we do comes off of our run game,” Sarkisian said. “I thought we missed some opportunities in the pass game tonight that could have made it really all tie together.”
“But the fact that we’re running the ball the way that we are, as effective as we are, and that people have to account for the run game the way that we’re doing it. Now we’ve got to clean stuff up,” Sarkisian continued. “I get that, and there’s some rhythm to it all, but I think we’ve got to tie it all together. Identity-wise, I feel good about it. The consistency of the identity, I think, is where we’ve got to sharpen our swords on that stuff.”
Texas converted 7 of 17 third downs and was stopped on both of its fourth-down tries.
“I think up front, we’ve got to execute a little bit better,” center Connor Robertson said. “I think that starts tomorrow. So, excited for the game this week, and ready to start preparing for that.”
Texas played without linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen, whom the school suspended for the game after his arrest on a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge. Earlier in the week, Manning issued a public apology to ESPN reporter Holly Rowe for laughing at an AI-generated video that showed Sarkisian slapping her, according to The Associated Press.
“I think we’re just trying to focus on us, focus on what we can control. That’s that’s kind of it,” Robertson explained. “I mean, not really spending too much time thinking about all that. It’s out of our control. So just trying to prepare for for our game.”
“But not an easy week. From the highs of last week’s ballgame to some of the stuff we had to deal with this week, and knowing what’s coming next week, that’s just a psyche,” Sarkisian noted. “That’s human nature. I understand that. I felt like our coaches poured into the guys to put them in the best position to be successful.”
The win was Texas’ 40th straight nonconference victory over a team from the state, dating back to 1968. It was also the Longhorns’ 15th consecutive September win, the longest active streak in FBS and the program’s longest since a 22-game run from 1976-85.
“We got a chance to play a lot of players, but clearly we’re going to need to play better next week in Knoxville in a tough environment against a very good football team,” Sarkisian said. “So, hey, it’s good to win, our 12th straight at home. I think we’re 23-and-1 now in our last 24 games [at home], which we know we’re tough to beat here. But now we’ve got to go do it on the road, and I think that’s the next challenge for this team.”
Texas visits Tennessee at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT on ABC. UTSA hosts Colorado State the same day.
