Five takeaways from Texas’ SEC debut against Mississippi State

Texas ended Saturday with another win after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs 35-13 in their first SEC game.

Although the score made it seem like Texas dominated, Mississippi State kept the game in the second half, but a mediocre offense led to their downfall as Arch Manning and Texas began to regain their momentum.

There were a lot of mental errors from the Longhorns throughout the game and Mississippi State dominated time of possession, but a win is a win and I doubt Texas can complain about that too much. Here are the five takeaways from the game:

After seemingly struggling a bit against ULM last week, Arch Manning was at his best today. Despite not knowing whether he would start until the morning, Manning completed 26 passes on 31 attempts for 324 yards and two touchdowns. Manning also tallied 33 yards on the ground and a touchdown on six attempts.

Manning seemed more grounded in this game, not getting too impatient and wanting to get behind on every other play. Instead, he opted for more check-downs and quick passes, which worked quite often.

When he got his legs moving in the second half, the Bulldogs had no answer for the quarterback, either on the ground or in the air.

With Ewers returning soon, Arch made sure he went out with a bang. This performance will hopefully stop any doubters from thinking that Manning isn’t worth the hype because he showed he belongs on Saturday.

Flags, flags and more flags.

Texas had to call back many plays because of its holding and had several false starts throughout the game.

Two sacks were also the highest number allowed for the season. Texas still has a very strong offensive line, but they never managed to really get it together on Saturday.

Mistakes like this will get Texas into trouble in bigger games. Luckily, Mississippi State still struggled to take advantage of the holdouts and false starts, but things will be tough for Texas’ O-line.

It’s crazy to say that 13 points is the most the defense has given up so far this season. They only allowed 6 points in the first half, but Mississippi State put a lot of pressure on them.

Texas struggled with the running game in the first half, the Bulldogs had more yards on the ground than in the air with 150 rushing yards in the game. Mississippi State was able to get consistent short wins, which helped them consistently win third-and-shorts and stay on the field longer.

In the second half, it seemed like the defense had a lot more control of the running game, and they didn’t let Mississippi State get the passing game going.

I think Collin Simmons deserves a lot of credit in this game. He constantly put pressure on the QB and was a defining presence in the running game.

The defense would have shut out Mississippi State in the second half if it hadn’t been for a big pass followed by a QB rush that ended in a touchdown.

Once they calmed down, another show was expected from this defense. Hopefully a bye week will help the run defense a bit.

Texas decided not to play as much early in the game, but with two minutes left in the first half, negative yards should never happen against a defense like Mississippi State.

With success in the second half, Texas got going and scored two rushing touchdowns in the second half, including a nice 26-yard rush sneak play with Isaiah Bond.

Jaydon Blue couldn’t get going after a four-touchdown performance last week, assuming he wasn’t that involved. He only managed 36 yards on six attempts and one touchdown. He also had difficulty holding onto the ball as he had two fumbles that Mississippi State was able to recover.

Tre Wisner was the leading rusher on the day with 88 yards on 13 carries. Jerrick Gibson didn’t get any carries until the third quarter, gaining 16 yards on four attempts.

The one-dimensional play in the first half seemed to stop the Texas offense several times, it seemed like the offense moved much more freely in the second half, including the running game.

There were a lot of mistakes. Lots of flags, lots of missed tackles. Not to be forgotten is head coach Steve Sarkisian’s questionable attempt to recover a field goal to score two possessions and ultimately cause a turnover on downs on a 4th-and-3.

But fans shouldn’t hit the panic button just yet. Texas didn’t have much to do heading into a bye week, and Oklahoma and Georgia were playing one of the worst players in the conference. The execution was mostly poor, but there were signs of a Texas team deserving of the number one ranking.

The Longhorns still won by multiple touchdowns, even though it looked like the game could have gained momentum several times. The team is resilient and despite the tight situation there was never any despair.

Even if you want to panic, the top brass in the SEC didn’t really have a good week. Ole Miss lost at home to Kentucky and Georgia looks like a dumpster fire, at least as of this writing.

Texas performed great compared to them. I believe they will be fine.

Texas can rest before heading to Dallas to face Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown. The date is set for October 12th, kick-off is at 2:30 p.m.