Texas football: Arch Manning, Longhorns shock No. 1 Ohio State behind a historic comeback

On Saturday night, Texas football made history against Ohio State .

Texas overcame a handful of early mistakes in a 24-23 win over No. 1 Ohio State at Royal-Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns entered the fourth quarter trailing by a 23-3 score, but three touchdowns helped Texas complete an improbable comebacker Hollywood Smothers ' 1-yard with 25 seconds left and Gianni Spetic 's subsequent extra points sealed the win.

The 20-point comeback was tied for the fourth-largest in school history. Texas also ralled out a 20-point hole in a 35-34 win over TCU in 1954.

Now 2-0, Texas will return to Royal-Memorial Stadium next week for a home game against UTSA (2-0).

Massive mistakes lead to halftime deficit for Longhorns

On Saturday, Texas stumbled out of the gates. On the game's first snap, Texas running back Raleek Brown fumbled away the football at the end of a backfield reception.

How bad was that start? Over the first 69 games of Steve Sarkisian's Texas tenure, the Longhorns had averaged 8.7 yards over their first offensive snaps. Texas had gotten touchdowns on two first plays – Xavier Worthy scored on a 75-yard reception against Oklahoma in 2021 and Ryan Wingo matched that highlight against Vanderbilt last year – but none of those inaugural offensive plays had featured a turnover.

Brown's fumble led to a short field goal for Ohio State, and things didn't get any better for Texas. An interception that bounced off the hands of a diving Cam Coleman ended the next UT possession and set up a touchdown drive for Ohio State. Texas finally got on the scoreboard with Gianni Spetic's second-quarter field goal, but that 37-yard kick came six plays after Ryan Wingo dropped a 30-yard touchdown pass.

Down 10-3 after Spetic's kick, Texas allowed 10 points to be scored in the first half's final two minutes. The Buckeyes' last seven points – which were tallied on a 19-yard touchdown catch by Jeremiah Smith with 10 seconds left – was the byproduct of a botched last-minute drive by the Longhorns. With UT trying to cut into the Ohio State lead, Brown caught a nine-yard pass on a 3rd-and-10 play but stepped out of bounds before picking up the first down. After keeping its offense on the field for fourth down at Ohio State's 41-yard line, Texas faked a simple handoff, got gimmicky and lost yardage when Wingo was run down in the backfield.

Forty-nine seconds later, Ohio State was heading into halftime with a 20-3 lead.

Down by 20, Texas completes its comeback

While facing its largest halftime deficit since it trailed Georgia by 23 points in 2024, Texas fell further behind in the third quarter as Ohio State kicked a 48-yard field goal. The Longhorns, however, made things interesting in the final frame.

Texas opened the fourth quarter with two scoring drives as Manning found Wingo for a 3-yard score and running back Hollywood Smothers scored from one yard out. That Smothers score made it a 23-17 game with 7:14 left.

Ohio State had a chance to end UT's hopes of a comeback on its next drive, but Connor Hawkins missed a 45-yard field goal. Given the football with 4:16 left, Texas quickly marched the football into Ohio State territory. Texas got with football within a few inches of the goal line before Smothers leaped over the pile to secure the victory.

Ohio State was given a few last-second shots at a response but did not get the football past its 25-yard line as Texas secured its first win over the No. 1 team in the AP poll since it beat Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in 2008.

Ohio State and Texas played on Saturday in front of the third-largest crowd in school history. This marked just the fourth time in school history that the Longhorns had hosted the No. 1 team in the Associated Press' poll. The Longhorns are now 2-2 in those games.