Eighth-ranked Texas looks to get its offense in sync prior to the beginning of the Southeastern Conference season when it hosts winless Sam Houston on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
It’s the final nonconference tuneup for the Longhorns (2-1), who have been solid but not overwhelming in their past two home games — both of them wins — after losing at then-No. 2 Ohio State in their season opener.
Texas dropped another spot in the AP poll this week after a 27-10 win over UTEP last Saturday. Struggling quarterback Arch Manning passed for just 114 yards while scoring twice on short first-half runs before passing for a score early in the fourth quarter.
Manning has hit on just over 55 percent of his passes over Texas’ first three games, racking up 579 yards and six touchdowns while chucking three interceptions. Add the three TDs he has scored on the ground and Manning has been directly responsible for all nine touchdowns the Longhorns have scored in 2025.
“(My performance against UTEP) was frustrating — I know I’m better than that,” Manning said Monday. “But we’re gonna be better this week, and we’re gonna get clicking on offense, and I’m excited to get going.”
“It’ll be more fun once we start clicking and winning these games. I have fun during the week (in practice) and I’ve got to continue to have fun, because I think I play better when I’m having fun. We’ve got a good group with full energy and, as a team, we can have more fun, and I think it’ll help us play better.”
The Longhorns were favored by 41 points in the game with UTEP and didn’t come close to reaching that level of domination, failing to cover for the third consecutive outing. Texas opened as a 41 1/2-point favorite for Saturday’s game with the Bearkats.
“(We have) things to clean up, but more importantly for us is (it’s) kind of exciting because the things that we need to clean up are very fixable,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday. “That part’s exciting to me because I can envision what it’s going to look like when we do clean it up.”
Texas will be without starting running back CJ Baxter for the Sam Houston game after he suffered a hamstring injury on the Longhorns’ first offensive snap against UTEP.
Sam Houston (0-3) travels west to Austin after a bye week, with its most recent game a 37-20 loss Sept. 3 at Hawaii. The Bearkats were outgained 417-248 and committed nine penalties for 95 yards in that loss.
The Bearkats have used three quarterbacks this season — Wisconsin transfer Mabrey Mettauer, Hunter Watson and Landyn Locke — with the trio passing for a combined two touchdowns and three interceptions. Mettauer made his first collegiate start at Hawaii and finished with 91 passing yards, 35 rushing yards and one interception.
Sam Houston’s defense gives up 38.7 points and 442.3 yards per contest.
“If somebody separates themself, fantastic,” said Sam Houston coach Phil Longo. “If not, I’ve been through this before at Sam with two quarterbacks — two good ones. I’d rather have the problem, and we’ll continue to make that work for us. That’s an iron-sharpens-iron situation. That’s always a good thing in football.”
Texas and San Houston have played just once before, with the Longhorns winning 56-3 in Austin in 2006.
