For the first three quarters of Saturday night’s showdown at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium, I found myself watching this domination and wondering if I had completely misjudged the hype surrounding Arch Manning. Ohio State walked into Austin and thoroughly controlled the game on both sides of the ball. The Buckeyes were physical, relentless, and suffocating, building a commanding twenty three to three lead that made the contest look entirely out of reach. While watching Manning struggle to get any kind of rhythm going against that ferocious defense, I openly questioned whether he was actually any good or if the immense pressure of the position was simply too much for him to handle.
Then the fourth quarter happened and flipped the entire college football world upside down.
What followed over those final fifteen minutes was one of the most exhilarating and fun quarters of football I have watched in a long time. Texas suddenly woke up and orchestrated an unbelievable twenty one point comeback, breathing new life into a stadium that had grown quiet and tense. Manning shook off three quarters of heavy struggles to engineer scoring drives with incredible poise, and the Longhorns defense finally found a way to stymie the Buckeye attack. It was absolute chaos in the best possible way, the kind of electric, high stakes drama that reminds you why you fall in love with this sport.
Naturally, the national media has been dissecting the aftermath from every possible angle, but my take is that this game was far more about Ohio State losing it than Texas simply winning it. The Buckeyes completely imploded down the stretch through a combination of conservative play calling, stalled offensive momentum, and crucial execution errors that left the door wide open. Ryan Day and his staff let off the gas and allowed a rattled opponent back into the contest, essentially handing the game away on a silver platter after playing nearly forty five minutes of near flawless football.
Even with that historic collapse, I think dropping Ohio State all the way down to number six in the AP poll is a massive overreaction that does not feel fair. They dominated a top tier opponent on the road for three quarters, and as we all know, the football sometimes bounces in weird ways when momentum shifts in a hostile environment. Punishing them that harshly for one disastrous quarter ignores just how good they looked for the vast majority of the night.
Ultimately, after sitting through so many uncompetitive blowouts and lopsided mismatches across college football, seeing something genuinely fun, thrilling, and fiercely competitive was immensely refreshing. Saturdays are meant for games like this, and we can only hope we get more of this kind of unforgettable drama going forward.
