AUSTIN, Texas -- Arch Manning and Texas returned to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for their first home game in 42 days on Saturday. For the home fans, he looked like a whole new Manning.
The quarterback went 25-of-33 for 328 yards and three touchdowns as the No. 20 Longhorns held off No. 9 Vanderbilt 34-31, despite the Commodores rallying late and scoring 21 fourth-quarter points.
Manning, who suffered a concussion last week in overtime in a comeback win against Mississippi State, didn't practice until Wednesday, and was listed on the SEC's injury reports until Friday evening. He said he felt good all week.
Then Texas got off to a scorching start. On the game's first play, Manning swung a pass out wide to Ryan Wingo, who escaped down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. It was an omen for a big day, one in which he became the first player in Texas history with 300 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and completed 75% of his passes against a top-10 team.
"Maybe the concussion helped," he joked.
Manning was blitzed on 10 of his 34 dropbacks, according to ESPN Research, and finished 8-10 for 145 yards with all three touchdowns coming against five or more pass rushers, his most touchdowns against the blitz in his career. All three came on play-action passes. He had three such TD passes in his career coming into today.
Steve Sarkisian said Texas shuffled some offensive linemen this week, moving Cole Hutson to left guard and Conner Robertson to center, and noticed a difference.
"This was the best protection [Manning has] gotten all year," Sarkisian said. "I thought Arch, to his credit, helped them. He did some things in protection to pick some things up to allow us to throw it down the field, but it allowed him to get through reads."
But more so, Sarkisian said Manning looks like a different quarterback than he was earlier in the year.
"I do think he's grown up," Sarkisian said. "He just looks so much more mature. He looks so much more poised. He looks so much more confident, and he's got a lot more trust in those guys around him."
Sarkisian was pleased with his offense's efficiency. But he said late in the game, when Vanderbilt got rolling, he thought the Longhorns lost their composure a little bit with some officiating calls he felt were not correct.
"Some of those calls were pretty clear to me, but I've got to get an explanation on why those calls didn't go our way," he said. "I think it's a lesson learned about poise and composure, controlling what you can control, and we can't control the calls. We've got to focus on the next play."
Despite sacking Diego Pavia a career-high six times -- he had seven total sacks this season -- and holding Vanderbilt to 58 rushing yards, their fewest in two seasons since Pavia's arrival, the Longhorns found themselves breathing a sigh of relief when Vanderbilt nearly recovered an onside kick that squeaked out of bounds with 33 seconds left.
Pavia finished 27-of-38 for 365 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 43 more yards and another score.
"I wish we would've finished a little better, but that's OK," Sarkisian said. "It gives me something to rip their ass about on Monday when we get together."
Sarkisian called Saturday's game "almost a playoff-type game in November" and pointed to their improvement as reason for optimism, saying Texas isn't a finished product.
Manning said he feels as if he's gotten some bad games under his belt out of the way, and now has the experience to take forward. But he knows what lies ahead with a trip to No. 5 Georgia looming after a bye week, with a win probably needed to keep their playoff hopes alive.
"I'm proud of the way we're playing," Manning said. "The Dawgs at their place is going to be no joke. We've got to continue to get better."