No. 1 Texas claims first-ever SEC game 35-13 over Mississippi State

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas made things hard on itself at times Saturday with penalties and other mistakes, but they typically had an explosive play ready to bail them out.

The No. 1 Longhorns opened Southeastern Conference play with a 35-13 win over Mississippi State in front of 101,388 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, but it certainly wasn't the cleanest game they've played.

"A lot of self-inflicted wounds today that could have changed the flow of the game," Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "There's plenty for us to clean up, but at the end of the day, we had over 500 yards with explosiveness."

The Longhorns committed eight penalties, with two of them wiping out touchdowns, for 65 yards and Johntay Cook II dropped a pass that surely would have gone for a score in the first half. Jaydon Blue fumbled twice, once in the red zone, and Sarkisian decided to take a field goal off the board following a penalty on the kick. He went for it on fourth-and-3 on the next play and the Longhorns didn't convert it for a turnover on downs.

Even so, Texas still managed to roll up 522 yards of total offense behind Arch Manning's 324 passing yards with three touchdowns.

Manning finished 26-for-31 passing and also added 33 rushing yards and a 1-yard score on the ground. He made his second consecutive start in place of Quinn Ewers who is still recovering from an oblique strain he suffered two weeks ago.

Texas had 10 of its 62 plays gain 20 or more yards and Manning averaged 15.1 yards per completion.

Texas had just 10 rushing yards in the first half as Mississippi State did a good job of possessing the ball, but eventually, the Longhorns got the ground game going. The Bulldogs held the ball for more than 21 minutes in the first half before Texas almost evened things out in the second half.

Quintrevion Wisner finished with 88 rushing yards on 13 carries including a 38-yard carry in the fourth quarter that set up a score. Texas rushed for 197 yards for the game and averaged 6.4 yards per carry with a big second-half performance on the ground.

The Longhorns went nine quarters without allowing a touchdown until Bulldogs quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. scrambled for a 12-yard score in the fourth quarter. Texas hadn't given up a touchdown since the second quarter against UTSA up to that point.

Texas wasn't particularly good on third down, both offensively and defensively. Mississippi State converted 8 of 17 while the Longhorns were 5 for 12.

The Longhorns did, however, get to Van Buren in the backfield quite a bit. Vernon Broughton forced and recovered a fumble in the first half while Texas notched six sacks for 45 yards. Colin Simmons had two sacks and three tackles for loss with a forced fumble. Mississippi State had 294 yards of offense in 73 plays and Van Buren threw for 144 yards on 12 of 23 passing.

Sarkisian said he was, in a way, glad his team faced some adversity. He described the first four games of the season as "kind of smooth sailing."

"We needed rough waters to see how we'd respond, and I thought we responded really well because there will be rough waters ahead," he said. "They showed poise and composure and found a way to fight back to pull away in a tight game because that's what the SEC is all about."

DeAndre Moore hauled in four catches for 103 yards with two touchdowns, including a 49-yard score at the end of the first half to give Texas a 14-6 lead at the break. Isaiah Bond had five catches for 73 yards and scored on a 27-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Moore didn't practice until Thursday due to a hip pointer he suffered against Louisiana-Monroe, Sarkisian said. In fact, Sarkisian said he made Moore work out Thursday so he could see how he was recovering and Moore was "pretty gimpy."

"I really thought he wouldn't be able to play, but he came back to Friday's walkthrough and he looked good," Sarkisian said. "I watched him long and hard in pregame and he was running great, so we let him go."

Texas (5-0, 1-0 SEC) has a bye next week and then will head to the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2) also has a bye before facing No. 2 Georgia on Oct. 12.

"The bye comes at a really good time for us to get some guys healthy, and then to start looking at future opponents for phase two of the season," Sarkisian said. "I'm proud of the team for winning and being 5-0, but we've got work to do."