AUSTIN, Texas — The nervous energy was palpable inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium as Mississippi State, a 38.5-point underdog, trailed the nation’s top-ranked team by just a single point with less than two minutes remaining before halftime.
The Bulldogs’ much-maligned defense, after allowing an opening-drive touchdown, had recovered a fumble and forced No. 1 Texas to punt twice. The offense, with freshman Michael Van Buren making his first start at quarterback, was able to string together some first downs and set up two field goals to improbably stay in the game.
But the Longhorns soon stepped on the gas and ended any hope of a monumental upset. Arch Manning’s 49-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Moore Jr. made it an eight-point game at the break, and Texas scored on its final three possessions in the second half to defeat MSU, 35-13.
“We did some good things today, and we’ll continue to build on those really good things,” Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby said. “As we walked into this stadium, the intent was to have a happy locker room and not sit here the way we’re sitting here right now. The moral victory part of it will not creep into our building whatsoever.”
MSU (1-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) tried to make Van Buren’s life easy on the opening drive, starting the game with five straight handoffs to Davon Booth — including a fourth-down conversion. The Bulldogs took more than seven minutes off the clock but could not come away with points, turning the ball over on downs when Van Buren’s pass to tight end Justin Ball picked up just five yards on fourth-and-7.
The Longhorns (5-0, 1-0) were also starting a backup quarterback, but Arch Manning, nephew of NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning and the nation’s top recruit when he committed to Texas, is no ordinary backup. Against a defense that had allowed quarterbacks to complete 49 of 56 passes over the previous two games, Manning finished 26-of-31 for 324 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions as well as a rushing touchdown.
Manning picked apart MSU on the Longhorns’ first possession, connecting for three chunk plays to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Jaydon Blue. But after that, the Bulldogs settled in defensively. Safety Corey Ellington strung out Blue on a third-and-1 at the MSU 20 and knocked the ball out, with linebacker Zakari Tillman recovering. Texas punted on its first two drives of the second quarter, picking up just one first down between them.
“Our execution, it was a lot better than last week,” middle linebacker Stone Blanton said. “We still have a lot to clean up on. There were a few critical plays that they got that skewed the yardage. We’re still very positive and we still love this game, and we’re going to leave it out there every single time.”
Running back Johnnie Daniels, a junior college transfer, found some holes in the Longhorns’ defensive front and rushed for 75 yards on 15 carries, helping set up the field goal after the two-minute timeout that cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 7-6.
“When I see the little creases, I just hit the holes. It’s just like you’ve been playing all these years. It’s still football, just on a bigger stage,” Daniels said. “When I first got here, I doubted myself, but as I kept playing, I started gaining more confidence.”
Blanton provided a big play right out of the half, forcing a fumble from Blue and recovering it himself on the first play of the third quarter. But MSU gave the ball right back when Vernon Broughton strip-sacked Van Buren and jumped on the loose ball.
The offensive line had some success in run blocking, but pass protection was a major issue — Texas sacked Van Buren six times for 45 yards.
“They did a really good job from a pass rush standpoint, winning one-on-ones,” Lebby said. “We were in some really good situations where we had advantages on the perimeter (and) weren’t able to hold up quite long enough. Some fundamental things to continue to make sure we’re cleaning up. They’ve got really good pass rushers.”
The Bulldogs’ defense spent just nine minutes on the field in the first half but began to wear down late. Manning set up his own quarterback sneak with a long run down the right sideline late in the third quarter, then threw his second deep scoring pass to Moore in the fourth. The Longhorns iced the game when Alabama transfer Isaiah Bond took a reverse 26 yards for Texas’ final touchdown.
Prior to that, Van Buren hit on his longest pass of the day, a 46-yard deep shot to fellow freshman Mario Craver, to set up his first collegiate touchdown on a 12-yard run straight up the middle. Van Buren finished 12-of-23 passing for 144 yards, with half of his completions going to Kevin Coleman.
“I thought I played OK. A lot of learning points within the game. My guys fought hard for me,” Van Buren said. “Sometimes it can be kind of hard with 100,000 fans in there, so I give kudos to their crowd. Their crowd definitely showed up today, they caused some issues for us, but we’ll work on that and get better.”
MSU has a much-needed open date coming up and will need to get healthy, especially on defense, with a trip to No. 2 Georgia coming up on Oct. 12.
“Proud of our guys for just continuing to fight,” Lebby said. “There’s a ton of frustration, a ton of disappointment. Our guys willing to fight for what we want is very evident. We have to continue to build on that. We have to play smarter and cleaner around (Van Buren) at all times to give us a chance to finish some drives. But our guys’ toughness, our demeanor, our edge and our mentality as we walked into the stadium today was exactly what we want.”
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