Texas stuns No. 1 Ohio State 24-23 with fourth-quarter comeback behind Manning

Texas walked into Ohio Stadium as the fourth-ranked team in the country, but it took them until the final minute of the game to prove they belonged there. The No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes had built a 23-3 lead by the end of the third quarter, methodically dismantling the Longhorns with an offense that seemed to have no answer for what Texas could throw at them. Then, in the fourth quarter, something shifted. Arch Manning and the Texas offense found a rhythm that Ohio State's defense could not contain, and three consecutive touchdowns in the final fifteen minutes turned what looked like a rout into a 24-23 victory that will reshape how both programs are viewed heading into the College Football Playoff race.

The game began badly for Texas and got worse before it got better. Ohio State won the toss and deferred, choosing to kick off and let Texas start with the ball. The Longhorns fumbled on their opening drive when Raleek Brown was hit behind the line of scrimmage, and Ohio State's defense capitalized immediately. The Buckeyes scored a field goal on that possession, then added a touchdown when Bo Jackson punched it in from eight yards out, giving Ohio State a 10-0 lead before the first quarter was even finished. By halftime, the Buckeyes had extended their advantage to 13-3, with Texas managing only a field goal from Gio Spetic. The second half was worse. Ohio State's offense continued to move the ball at will, and after the Longhorns went three-and-out to start the third quarter, the Buckeyes scored again on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith. Then came another field goal, this one from 48 yards out, to push the lead to 23-3 with the entire fourth quarter still ahead.

Steve Sarkisian's team had been here before—or rather, they had not. The Texas head coach was 0-5 against Ohio State and Georgia over the last two years, and this game represented exactly the kind of test that separates programs that compete for national championships from those that merely appear in them. The Buckeyes had blocked Texas's path to the College Football Playoff two years earlier, and now they stood in the way again. What happened next, though, was not a continuation of that pattern but a complete reversal of it.

With 2:01 remaining in the third quarter, Manning connected with Ryan Wingo in the end zone for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 23-10. The drive had been a masterclass in perseverance—Manning scrambled multiple times, found receivers in tight windows, and refused to let the game slip away. On the ensuing Ohio State possession, the Buckeyes stalled. Bo Mascoe's coverage on Jeremiah Smith on third-and-four forced an incompletion, and Connor Hawkins's 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left. The Buckeyes had failed to extend their lead when they had the chance.

Texas's second touchdown came with 4:17 left in the game. Manning led a drive that saw Hollywood Smothers power his way into the end zone from the 1-yard line, and the point-after attempt was good. The deficit was suddenly just one score at 23-17. The momentum had shifted entirely. On Ohio State's next possession, the Texas defense finally made a play when Mascoe blanketed Smith down the sideline, forcing another incompletion. The Buckeyes punted, and Texas got the ball back with time to work with.

The final drive was a study in controlled aggression. Manning threw a 17-yard completion to Emmett Mosley, who went into traffic with both hands on the football. Brown made a defender miss in the hole for 11 yards. Smothers converted a third down by following Wingo into the hole. Mosley made another catch on a fake screen and powered through failed tackle attempts for 19 yards, moving Texas to the 1-yard line with 51 seconds remaining. Smothers ran it twice, the second time losing the football in a mass of bodies at the goal line, but a review upheld that he had reached the end zone. The touchdown gave Texas a 24-23 lead with 17 seconds left.

Ohio State got one final chance. Julian Sayin tried to throw deep down the field, but Graceson Littleton stepped in front of the pass and intercepted it with 17 seconds on the clock. The game was over. Texas had scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to stun the nation's top-ranked team. For Sarkisian, it was a breakthrough moment—a win against the kind of program that had defined his tenure in Austin as a coach searching for his first signature victory. For Texas, it was a statement that they belonged in the conversation for a national championship. The Longhorns had not won a title since 2005, and this victory, improbable as it was, suggested that drought might finally be ending.