Arch Manning throws four TD passes and No. 5 Texas eases past Texas State in season opener 59-7
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Arch Manning passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Cam Coleman, and No. 5 Texas eased into the season with a 59-7 win over Texas State on Saturday.
Manning connected with Coleman for Texas’ first touchdown and with Ryan Wingo on the Longhorns’ next possession. Graceson Littleton’s 59-yard fumble return touchdown put Texas ahead 28-0 in the second quarter.
Coleman played his first two seasons at Auburn and was one of the top transfers in the country when he signed with Texas. He caught three passes for 70 yards in his Longhorns debut. Raleek Brown, who transferred from Arizona State, also scored twice.
“I liked how we got a lot of guys involved. We have a lot of playmakers who can do everything,” said Manning, who left the game in the third quarter with Texas leading 42-7.
Texas will host No. 1 Ohio State next week. The programs have an intense recent history. Ohio State beat Texas in the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinals, and again in the 2025 season opener.
And while Texas earned a relatively easy win Saturday, it wasn’t a perfect one.
Manning killed a touchdown drive at the end of the first half with a poor throw into triple coverage in the end zone. Texas’ first play was a 45-yard run by Hollywood Smothers, but the Longhorns managed just 111 yards rushing the rest of the way behind an offensive line that struggled to push the undersized Bobcats.
“The run game, we gotta look at and find ways to make it cleaner,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said “I knew we’d have some growing pains today, which we did. Now we have to fix those going into next week. “
The takeaway
Texas State: The Bobcats (0-1) join the rebuilt Pac-12 this season after 13 years in the Sun Belt. Do-everything quarterback Brad Jackson passed for 150 yards and ran for 27 but was mostly held in check.
“It wasn’t a very good performance by us. Pretty terrible, to be honest,” Texas State coach G.J. Kinne said. “Obviously, that’s a really good team. Don’t want to take anything away from them. But we really got outcoached more than we got outplayed.”
Texas: The Longhorns forced three turnovers and held Texas State under 350 total yards in new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s first game back at Texas. The former Florida and South Carolina head coach was defensive coordinator at Texas from 2008-2010, which included a loss in the national championship game in 2009.
Texas transfers deliver right away
Texas added firepower in the transfer portal and it delivered in the first game.
Coleman and Brown put up their highlight touchdowns. Smothers, who transferred from North Carolina State, had the big run on the first play. And linebacker Rasheem Biles, a preseason All-American from Pitt, punched out the fumble that Littleton scooped to score. Biles also had an interception in the third quarter.
“He’s a violent player,” Sarkisian said of Biles. “The play he made to cause that fumble was elite.”
Up next
Texas State hosts UTSA on Sept. 12.
Texas hosts No. 1 Ohio State on Sept. 12.
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