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AUSTIN, Texas — On his way out of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for the final time in the 2025 season, quarterback Arch Manning made a brief detour.
He jogged over to gather with the Texas Cowboys, the more than 100-year-old student group and community service organization that is best known for firing Smokey the Cannon at home football games.
Manning joined the group when he was a freshman at Texas, and before he accompanied his teammates in the celebratory locker room on Friday following a 27-17 win over rival Texas A&M, Manning put on the black cowboy hat that the group wears and fired off the cannon in celebration.
Arch Manning, who is a member of the Texas Cowboys, fires the cannon after the win. pic.twitter.com/reUhIvOFna
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) November 29, 2025
Manning, whose first regular season as QB1 began with a thud in a Week 1 loss at Ohio State, ended with a bang after the Longhorns’ big win on Friday night, keeping the Aggies out of the SEC Championship Game and keeping the No. 16 Longhorns’ slim College Football Playoff hopes alive.
The Manning experience this season has been a roller coaster, filled with ups and downs. His performance on Friday night was a microcosm of what we’ve seen from him this season: A rough start punctuated by a mostly strong finish.
In Friday’s first half, Texas managed just three points, punting on five of its first six possessions. Manning was out of sorts, completing just five of his first 17 pass attempts for just 28 yards. He didn’t appear comfortable and couldn’t establish a good rhythm.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Manning saw the field just fine, but his feet weren’t set in the pocket. When Manning found some early success on the ground, his eyes dropped, and he looked for escape lanes from the pocket rather than open receivers downfield.
At halftime, Sarkisian said his advice to Manning was “to get his eyes back up so that he could see some of these throws down the field, because we felt like we had people open.”
In the second half, Manning did that. His footwork improved and his accuracy followed. From the final minute of the first half to the end of the game, Manning completed nine of 12 attempts, including a 29-yard touchdown to Ryan Wingo and a 54-yard pass to Jack Endries.
When Texas A&M cut a 10-point Longhorn deficit to three, Manning shut the door on the Aggies with his running ability, sprinting through the heart of A&M’s defense for a 35-yard touchdown run to give the Longhorns all the breathing room they needed.
“That was him just starting to settle down a little bit,” Sarkisian said. “It wasn’t like he didn’t see what was happening. He was seeing it. I just think his feet were getting him a little out of sorts early in the game.”
The 6-foot-4, 219-pound scion of football’s royal family has gone through the wringer this season. After an offseason filled with buildup, Manning fell flat with underwhelming performances against Ohio State and UTEP. He took a beating in an Oct. 4 loss at Florida. Criticism mounted from those outside the program.
None of that came from Sarkisian, who stuck by his quarterback.
“I’m forever grateful for him,” Manning said Friday of Sarkisian. “It (would be) easy for him when I wasn’t playing well, I was missing throws and probably making his play calls look bad, he could throw me under the bus, but he never did. He always uplifted me.
“He never blamed it on me in the media or anything. We just kept chopping wood.”After growing up in a win over rival Oklahoma in Dallas, Manning and the Texas offense struggled a bit more in a narrow overtime win at Kentucky. It wasn’t until late in an overtime road win at Mississippi State that Manning finally got going, but once he did, things began to turn.
Following the Kentucky game, Manning threw for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in three of the next four games. He became more accurate. His off-target percentage, according to Pro Football Focus, was its lowest against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Georgia.
The “keep chopping wood” mantra took hold for Manning and the Longhorns on Friday against the Aggies, too. Things could have unraveled as the passing game sputtered early. To Sarkisian’s credit, he leaned on what worked — the running game — until Manning found his rhythm.
Texas rode running back Quintrevion Wisner, who had his first 100-yard performance of the season. Wisner opened the second half with a 48-yard run and had 92 of his 155 yards in the third quarter.
The Longhorns offensive line, which also took its lumps early in the season, got push in the run game and performed respectably against an A&M defensive front that has wreaked havoc on others this season. Aggie sack leader Cashius Howell finished without a sack or a quarterback hurry on Friday. But Manning contributed to that effort, too.
“The blitz packages that A&M has (are) elite. It’s NFL level,” Sarkisian said. “And (Manning) managed our protections at the line of scrimmage beautifully. Did a fantastic job.”
Throughout his ups and downs, Sarkisian said that Manning has emerged as “a really cool leader” this season. “These guys respond to his fire, to his energy, to his work ethic. … Nobody works harder. Nobody prepares more.”
The final stat line wasn’t the prettiest: 14-of-29 passing for 179 yards and a touchdown, plus 53 rushing yards and a score on seven carries. But Manning made the big plays Texas needed, and the Longhorns don’t win on Friday without his second-half performance.
“He never lost his work ethic or his focus,” Sarkisian said.
Because of that, the Longhorns have an outside shot at the CFP. Asked how he thinks he’s playing now, Manning was reserved.
“Just a guy trying to win games, doing whatever it takes to win games,” he said.
