Arch Manning’s Last-Second TD Lifts Texas Past LSU 22-21

Arch Manning had thrown three interceptions, completed barely half his passes and spent most of the night looking like a quarterback beaten by the occasion. Then, with two minutes and 19 seconds left and Texas trailing by five, he produced the drive that will define his season.

Manning found Raleek Brown for a four-yard touchdown pass along the left sideline with three seconds remaining, and No. 6 Texas escaped Tiger Stadium with a 22-21 victory over No. 21 LSU on Saturday night. Texas did not attempt a point after or a two-point conversion. There was no need. The game was over, and so, in all likelihood, were LSU’s playoff hopes.

It was the fifth win over a ranked opponent this season for the Longhorns, and it kept Texas firmly in contention for a College Football Playoff place. For LSU, a fourth defeat of the season left the Tigers at 6-4 and needing near-miracles to stay in the conversation.

A drive built on nerve

Texas took over at its own 42-yard line, down 21-16, with 2:19 on the clock. What followed was a 12-play, 58-yard march that Manning conducted with a calm that had been absent for most of the evening.

He converted three third downs on the drive — one with a five-yard pass and two with his legs — and ran for a first down inside the LSU five-yard line with nine seconds to go. On second down from the four, he hit Brown on a swing pass out of the backfield, and the running back reached the front pylon to put Texas ahead.

“I thought our guys had great poise and composure in that final drive to execute, showed a lot of guts by Arch for sure,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian told ESPN after the game.

It was the second time this season Manning has rescued Texas late, having done the same against Ohio State earlier in the year. The Longhorns have now won five straight games against ranked opponents when trailing in the second half.

A night to forget — until the final minutes

Nothing about the first 55 minutes suggested such an ending. Manning finished 19 of 35 passing for 174 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions. Before the winning drive, he had completed just 13 of 27 passes for 120 yards. His only other score of the night came on the opening possession, a one-yard rushing touchdown that capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive.

LSU, by contrast, looked the more composed side for long stretches. The Tigers led by 11 points in the second half, and their quarterback, Sam Leavitt, threw three interceptions of his own — two of them in the end zone — yet LSU still held the lead deep into the fourth quarter. Texas kicker Gianni Spetic cut the gap with field goals of 41 and 50 yards, but the Longhorns could not find the end zone until it mattered most.

The statistics told the story of a game Texas had no right to win. LSU outgained the Longhorns 366 yards to 273. But the Texas defence produced three takeaways and three sacks, and when the final drive arrived, it was Manning — not the numbers — that decided the outcome.

What it means for the playoff race

Texas improved to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in Southeastern Conference play, and the win all but guarantees the Longhorns a place in the 12-team playoff field. LSU fell to 6-4 and 3-4 in the SEC, a record that virtually eliminates the Tigers from contention.

The defeat also deepens the scrutiny on Lane Kiffin in his first season at LSU. The programme dismissed Brian Kelly last year and paid a reported $54 million buyout, then handed Kiffin a seven-year deal worth $91 million. After back-to-back home defeats to Alabama and Texas, the Tigers are 6-4 and face a trip to seventh-ranked Tennessee next week — a game that, if lost, would leave Kiffin with a losing record in SEC play in year one.

Texas, meanwhile, can now look ahead with genuine belief. The Longhorns entered the weekend ranked sixth in the first College Football Playoff rankings, and this was the kind of result that strengthens a resume more than any comfortable win. The committee values road victories over ranked opposition, and there are few harder places to win than Death Valley at night. The result follows a Week 9 shake-up that saw seven ranked teams fall, and it arrived on a weekend when Wales stunned the All Blacks in Cardiff.

A Manning homecoming in Death Valley

For Manning, the setting made the finish sweeter still. He was raised in Louisiana and attended games at Tiger Stadium as a boy. His grandfather Archie and his uncle Peyton both starred in the SEC, and now the youngest Manning has a Death Valley comeback story of his own.

His parents, Cooper and Ellen, were sitting near the end zone where Brown scored, and the celebrations that followed were captured on the broadcast as the Texas sideline emptied onto the field. In front of 102,321 fans, the quarterback who had struggled all night walked off a winner.

LSU punted on its final four possessions and watched an 11-point second-half lead disappear. The Tigers will have to regroup quickly, with Tennessee waiting next Saturday. Texas, by contrast, leaves Baton Rouge with its season not just alive but gathering momentum — and with a quarterback who, for all his flaws on the night, has now shown twice that he can be trusted when the game is on the line. The Associated Press report from Baton Rouge called the finish a legacy drive for Manning, while LSU’s official recap recorded the final score at 22-21.