Ryan Niblett and the Texas defense saved Texas again.
This time, in the most improbable, 45-38 overtime victory you'll ever see, the Longhorns' blazing punt-returner saved Steve Sarkisian and his team from what was shaping up to be one of the most disastrous days of the five-year Sarkisian era.
Niblett's 79-yard punt return for a touchdown with 1:47 left to play, punctuated a 24-point fourth quarter for the Longhorns that erased two, 17-point, second-half deficits and tied the game, 38-38, leading to overtime for the second straight week.
The Texas defense, which finished with seven sacks and nine tackles for loss, slammed the door shut on the Longhorns' comeback victory in overtime with a third-and-10 pressure by Colin Simmons and a fourth-and-20 strip sack by Ethan Burke, recovered by Alex January.
With the win, Texas improves to 6-2 and 3-1 in SEC play with a home game against surging Vanderbilt in Austin next Saturday.
— Texas got the ball first in overtime, and at the end of a 13-yard Arch Manning scramble Mississippi State DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones lowered his helmet into the back of Manning's helmet, snapping Manning's head into the turf, and, perhaps, giving Manning a concussion. But no flag was thrown.
In came backup QB Matthew Caldwell, who hit Emmett Mosley V for a 10-yard TD on a fade pass that was initially ruled out of bounds.
— After giving up 94 rushing yards in the first half, the Texas defense held MSU to minus-31 yards on 18 carries in the second half. Most of that negative yardage was due to the six, second-half sacks the Longhorns posted.
Anthony Hill Jr. had a monster game with 10 tackles, including a fourth-and-1 stop, 3.5 TFLs, including 2.5 sacks. Alex January had 1.5 sacks. Hero Kanu had a sack. Burke had the strip-sack to end the game (and also blocked a field goal on Saturday). Maraad Watson and Trey Moore each finished with a half a sack.
— Texas escaped Kentucky last week with a win in overtime after star safety Michael Taaffe spearheaded a fourth-and-goal stop on the Wildcats' first possession of overtime.
Texas had no Taaffe on Saturday in Starkville, and it showed in giving up 382 passing yards. The Longhorns played a lot of two-deep safety and gave up one pass play after another over the middle of the field as MSU built leads of 31-17 and 38-21.
Xavier Filsaime and Derek Williams Jr. played in place of Taaffe alongside Jelani McDonald at safety. And all took turns struggling, although McDonald finished the game with a team-leading 14 tackles.
— Mississippi State fans probably threw up after a fourth-and-1 roughing the passer penalty against the Bulldogs' Deonte Anderson kept alive a drive to a 21-yard TD pass from Manning to Mosley that cut the Bulldogs' lead to 38-28.
— Ryan Wingo had five catches for 184 yards, but if Texas would've lost this game, all Wingo would be remembered for were three critical drops, all of which killed Texas.
After a drop on second-and-9 on Texas' second possession, Wingo dropped a third-and-19 pass that would've gone for a first down in the first half; and dropped a third-and-goal pass that would've gone for a touchdown and cut the Bulldogs' lead to less than a TD with just under five minutes left to play. Texas settled for Shipley's 26-yard FG.
— What happened in the first three quarters of the game - and even before Saturday's 3:15 pm CT kickoff - was shaping up to be one of the worst days of the Steve Sarkisian era:
First, a report from Diana Russini of The Athletic hit at 9 am CT saying representatives of Sarkisian have let NFL decision-makers know he'd be interested in potential head-coaching jobs, including the Tennessee Titans.
And then for three quarters Saturday, the Longhorns were so inept any notion of Sarkisian flirting with the NFL was becoming a punchline as the game wore on.
— Texas punched first - finally - scoring its first, first-quarter touchdown of the season against Power Four competition on a 3-yard TD run by Arch Manning. And it was set up by the quick passing game Texas has been forced to build around because its pass protection is so unreliable - a 60-yard catch-and-run by Ryan Wingo on a pass thrown 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
But after Texas took a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, the avalanche of ineptitude ensued:
— A Mississippi State team that came into the game with only 10 sacks (tied for 106th in FBS) and 29 tackles for loss (tied for 116th) had four sacks and eight tackles for loss at halftime, finishing the game with five sacks and 12 TFLs with former Longhorns Derion Gullette and Jaray Bledsoe both finishing with 1.5 sacks each.
— Former Longhorn WR Brenen Thompson led the Bulldogs with six catches for 76 yards, including TD receptions of 23 and 4 yards. But Thompson had a huge drop on the first play of overtime that would've put the ball on the Texas 10.
— A second-quarter deep ball went off Parker Livingstone's hands right into the hands of Mississippi State 6-foot-4 cornerback Kelly Jones in the second quarter that led to an MSU field goal. Though not his fault, Manning was credited with his first interception and Texas' first turnover in three games.
— Officials missed an obvious tripping violation by Bulldogs' DT DJ Reed against Arch Manning that would've resulted in a first-and-goal from the 6. Instead, Mason Shipley ended up pulling a 29-yard field goal attempt wide left for Shipley's first miss of the season inside 50 yards.
— A free rusher ran right by left guard Connor Stroh on third-and-5 in the first half and blasted Arch Manning, whose rushed pass fell incomplete in the second quarter.
— As if Mississippi State fifth-year senior DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones thought he'd get away with diving at Connor Stroh's legs, enabling a teammate to jump over Stroh and block Mason Shipley's 25-yard field goal early in the second quarter. The ref was standing right there, flagged it, giving Texas a first-and-goal from the 3. It looked like CJ Baxter scored from 3-yards out, but review said no. Then, Baxter was stuffed for no gain on second-and-goal from the 1 before Arch Manning hit Parker Livingstone for a 1-yard TD pass, giving Texas a 14-7 lead.
— Arch Manning finished 29-of-46 passing for 346 yards and three TDs with one interception. Matthew Caldwell was 1-of-1 for 10 yards and a touchdown.
Texas ran the ball 32 times for 72 yards (2.3 ypc) and one touchdown on Manning's 3-yard TD run in which his left ankle appeared to get rolled up.
Quintrevion Wisner led Texas with 12 carries for 41 yards (3.4 ypc) and had six catches for 17 yards.
CJ Baxter saw his first action in five games following a hamstring injury and had nine carries for 27 yards (3.0 ypc).
Parker Livingstone and Emmett Mosley V each had two TD receptions in the game.
— Xavier Filsaime slipped as Brenan Thompson was coming out of his break, and MSU QB Blake Shapen hit Thompson for a 24-yard gain to the Texas 7 in the second quarter. That drive ended with a fourth-and-goal, 1-yard TD pass from backup MSU QB Kamario Taylor to senior tight end Seydou Traore that was deflected by Texas safety Jelani McDonald and still found its way to Traore, tying the game 14-14 with 9:21 left before halftime.
— Texas' first play of the game was a swing pass to Ryan Wingo 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage, and Wingo turned it into a 60-yard, catch-and-run to the MSU 3, setting up a 3-yard TD run by Arch Manning for Texas' first touchdown in the first quarter against Power Four competition this season.