Arch Manning Leads Historic Rally as No. 4 Texas Stuns No. 1 Ohio State

AUSTIN, Texas — For three quarters, Texas looked like a team headed toward another painful lesson against Ohio State. Then Arch Manning turned the game into a referendum on resilience.

The No. 4 Longhorns erased a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter Saturday night, scoring three touchdowns in the final period to defeat top-ranked Ohio State 24-23. Hollywood Smothers’ 1-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds remaining completed the largest fourth-quarter comeback ever recorded in a victory over an AP No. 1 team, according to AP’s review of Sportradar data.

The win was not a clean coronation for Texas. Ohio State controlled most of the night, building a 23-3 advantage while Manning and the Longhorn offense struggled to generate momentum. But the quarterback’s response in the final quarter changed the game—and potentially the trajectory of Texas’ season.

Manning began the rally with a touchdown pass to Ryan Wingo, who finished as Texas’ leading receiver with 121 yards. After the defense forced Ohio State into another stalled possession, Manning kept the pressure on, moving the Longhorns downfield and setting up Smothers’ touchdown that cut the deficit to six.

Texas still needed one more drive. Manning delivered it.

The final possession put the quarterback’s value in sharper focus than any box-score total could. He finished with 305 passing yards, but the more important number was the 21 points Texas produced in the fourth quarter after managing only three through the first three periods. The Longhorns did not win because they dominated Ohio State. They won because they eventually found answers before the clock ran out.

That distinction matters for Texas. The program entered the night with championship expectations and the memory of last season’s loss to Ohio State, a defeat that had helped knock the Longhorns out of the national-title conversation. This time, Texas absorbed the same kind of pressure and reversed the result in a way that will be difficult to dismiss as an ordinary early-season upset.

The victory gives Manning the defining performance that has long been attached to his name but had not yet fully arrived on a stage like this. The comeback does not erase the uneven first three quarters, and it does not guarantee that Texas has solved every problem. It does show that the Longhorns can withstand a collapse, adjust late, and execute against the team that began the night at the top of the sport.

For Ohio State, the loss is more complicated than a simple blown lead. The Buckeyes were not gradually worn down over four quarters; they surrendered the game in a single, extraordinary closing period. That makes the defeat both more shocking and more revealing. A team with national-title ambitions will now face questions about late-game execution, defensive answers, and whether its early control was built on enough margin to survive a single momentum swing.

For Texas, the questions are more optimistic but just as demanding. The Longhorns are likely to enter the next rankings as the leading candidate to replace Ohio State at No. 1. But the ranking will be less important than whether Saturday’s fourth-quarter version of Texas becomes the standard rather than the rescue act.

The immediate lesson is clear: Texas is no longer merely chasing the country’s best teams. It has demonstrated that, even after appearing finished, it can beat one.