AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time in 42 days, the No. 20 Texas Longhorns are back at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, hosting the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores and hoping to avoid a Halloween hangover heading into the season’s second bye week.
At 6-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, the season’s objectives are still on the table for the Longhorns despite last month’s loss to the Gators in Gainesville, but there’s little margin for error — to stay in the SEC championship and College Football Playoff races, head coach Steve Sarkisian’s team needs a victory against the upstart Commodores under fifth-year head coach Clark Lea.
Texas will benefit from the availability of redshirt sophomore quarterback Arch Manning, who was taken off the team’s injury report on Friday night after spending the week in concussion protocol. The only player out for the Horns is redshirt senior safety Michael Taaffe, which also means the return of senior center Cole Hutson, who hasn’t played since the win over Oklahoma.
Hutson isn’t playing his typical position, though — he was announced in the stadium as the starter at left guard, allowing redshirt junior Connor Robertson to maintain the starting role at center. The hope is that the change will solidify a position that has been in turmoil throughout the season because of struggles by redshirt sophomore Connor Stroh, the starter in the season opener, and freshman Nick Brooks, a more natural tackle.
Vanderbilt won the toss and deferred to the second half, kicking off to Texas to open the game, a touchback.
Opening the game the same way they did last week, with a swing pass to sophomore wide receiver Ryan Wingo, the Longhorns got an even better result against the Commodores — a 75-yard touchdown catch by the speedster from St. Louis.
Vanderbilt opened with a screen pass to the perimeter for a six-yard gain. After a two-yard rush, the Commodores faced 3rd and 2, lining up in jumbo package and powering between the tackles for five yards.
On the sudden change, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian dialed up a reverse throwback screen to redshirt sophomore running back/wide receiver Ryan Niblett that picked up 13 yards. Taking a shot at the end zone on a fake wide receiver screen, Manning was forced to check down and was lucky that it was an incomplete pass instead of a significant loss. On second down, the Longhorns quarterback misfired on his pass into the flat, putting Texas farther behind the chains with a delay of game penalty. Scrambling to avoid pressure from an empty formation, Manning tried to throw back over the middle to sophomore wide receiver Emmett Mosley, but missed high. On to attempt a 39-yard field goal, redshirt senior kicker Mason Shipley connected.
After another fair catch by the Commodores, Longhorns sophomore cornerback Kobe Black got beat in coverage on first down, but the throw by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was a little bit late and put on the sideline. Scrambling on second down, Pavia found enough room to gain 13 yards. Another improvised play by Pavia resulted in a 33-yard gain by running back Sedrick Alexander, but the ‘Dores were flagged for two penalties, including an illegal forward pass by Pavia.
Vanderbilt gained some of the last yardage back on a pass into the flat that included two Texas defenders running into each other, resulting in a 17-yard pickup by the visitors. Two runs picked up a combined nine yards, a questionable call by Commodores offensive coordinator Tim Beck was a wide run that resulted in a holding penalty trying to block Simmons. On 3rd and 16, Simmons pressured Pavia into throwing the ball away, forcing the first punt by Vanderbilt, a directional effort that Niblett returned for 12 yards.
Sticking with the passing game, Wingo got another screen for a 14-yard gain, followed by a screen to Mosley for six yards. On the first called run of the game for the Longhorns, junior running back Quintrevion Wisner broke a tackle in the backfield and ran behind an effective block by redshirt freshman wide receiver Parker Livingstone to gain 13 yards. Snapping the ball to Wisner directly required a push from the offensive line to gain two yards.
Continuing to get the ball out of Manning’s hand quickly, three straight completions included strong catch and runs by Livingstone and junior wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. After a run by redshirt sophomore running back CJ Baxter, Manning bought enough time for Baxter to come open in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown and a commanding 17-0 lead. Manning was 6-for-6 for 56 yards and the touchdown on the drive, delivering Baxter’s first touchdown in 670 days.
The Texas defense didn’t consolidate the momentum, however, allowing a 17-yard completion and a 22-yard completion to flip the field, aided by an offside penalty on the Horns when Pavia missed a back-shoulder throw. A called quarterback run for Pavia gained two yards to end the first quarter.
As the second quarter started, junior safety Jelani McDonald had headed to the locker room, joining Wingo. The Texas defense came up with a tackle for loss to open the quarter, but then allowed a completion that moved the chains. Another tackle for loss put Vanderbilt off schedule and the downfield coverage held up well enough to force Pavia to check down to his running back, who was tackled quickly by junior edge Brad Spence.
Bringing pressure on third and long, the Horns forced Pavia to scramble up the middle, where he was tackled by redshirt senior linebacker Trey Moore, who flashed his quickness on the play. The Commodores settled for a 44-yard field goal.
After Texas freshman tight end Nick Townsend fielded the short kickoff and returned it 18 yards, Vanderbilt was flagged for offside, Wisner gained eight yards on a run and Manning scrambled for four yards before a well-executed screen to Wisner went for 17 yards. Stuffed for a short gain on first down, Wisner showed off his patience and vision, getting behind his pads to gain five yards and set up a manageable third down, a dart from Manning to Mosley for 10 yards. Freshman wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon paid for a 14-yard gain with a big hit that immediately sent him to the injury tent. On a toss sweep in the red zone, Wisner found a crease and summersaulted into the end for a four-yard touchdown and a 24-3 lead midway through the second quarter.
Vanderbilt started its drive with a 15-yard completion before Pavia gained two tough yards up the middle. A check down on second down picked up six yards, setting up 3rd and 2, a play-action to the tight end in the flat to move the chains. Under pressure trying to hit a throw downfield, Pavia had to settle for throwing it away. Another short pass was more effective, going to star tight end Eli Stowers for 17 yards. A short run and an incompletion forced by a cornerback blitz from junior Manny Muhammad set up 3rd and 7. After Pavia scrambled for a short completion, the offense stayed on the field for 4th and 5 after the two-minute timeout.
Moving the pocket for Pavia, Vanderbilt used a rub route to get a completion to Stowers for the first down. A play-action pass didn’t slow down the Texas pass rush as junior linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. tracked down Pavia, who narrowly avoided a huge hit from sophomore defensive tackle Maraad Watson. After gaining back the lost yardage on a quick pass, the Commodores took a timeout facing 3rd and 10 just inside the red zone. It resulted in a touchdown for Vanderbilt on a blown coverage by Texas that resulted in an 18-yard touchdown catch by Stowers to narrow the deficit to 24-10.
A squib kick and a completion to Mosley for 15 yards put the Longhorns in position to attempt a Hail Mary before halftime. After a timeout by the Commodores, Manning threw the ball out of the back of the end zone, but Vanderbilt was flagged for having 12 players on the field, allowing Texas another chance at it, which went incomplete.
Vanderbilt started the third quarter at its own 33-yard line after a good return enabled by Muhammad losing leverage and missing a tackle that allowed the return man to get up the sideline. Dropped passes on first and second down set up 3rd and 10, but Texas junior cornerback Warren Roberson was called for an offside penalty when he made contact with the wide receiver for no apparent reason. On 3rd and 5, at least, Spence brought down Pavia to force the punt, a rugby effort that kept Niblett from returning it and pinned the Horns inside their own 5-yard line.
A run by Wisner and a short reception by junior tight end Jack Endries set up 3rd and 4. In a clean pocket, Manning was able to wait for Mosley to come open over the middle for an 18-yard gain. Another first-down run by Wisner was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but Manning was able to secure a first down by connecting with Livingstone on an out route that gained 10 yards. Continued effective pass protection let a deep route by Moore come open for 29 yards. Into 3rd and 9 after a one-yard run by Baxter and a ripped throw by Manning over the middle that Livingstone could only get one hand up for, the Texas quarterback threw another dart, this time to Endries for 17 yards into the red zone.
Working back to Endries on quick pass picked up five critical yards to the 6-yard line before Manning stood tall in the pocket, taking a big hit to throw a touchdown pass to Mosley, who was turned loose by the Vanderbilt secondary. The 31-10 lead pushed the win probability for the Horns to 98.5 percent.
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