Holy moly, No. 1 Texas is still sitting pretty at 4-0, with senior quarterback Arch Manning leading the charge, but if you watched their 20-17 road battle against No. 13 Tennessee in Week 4, you’ve gotta be asking if they’re playing with fire. That was way too close for comfort!
The Tennessee Trench Warfare: A Frustrating Fight
Let’s break down Manning’s day against a seriously tough Tennessee squad. He finished 14-of-19 for 201 passing yards, which is decent, right? But then you look at the rest: one interception and a mind-boggling negative one rushing yard on 11 attempts. A *negative* yard? That’s not the kind of dual-threat performance you expect from a top quarterback. The Longhorns ended their SEC opener with only 262 total yards, with 201 through the air and a measly 61 on the ground. You know why? Because the Vols’ defense was absolutely relentless. They sacked Manning six times, notched 10 tackles for loss, snagged an interception of their own, broke up two passes, and rushed the passer two other times. No wonder Manning himself called them “a good defense, well coached,” and admitted it was “definitely frustrating.” Frustrating is an understatement when you’re getting hammered like that on the road, even if you pull out the W.
The Perilous Pattern of Close Calls
But here’s the kicker: this nail-biting win against Tennessee isn’t an isolated incident for this No. 1 Texas team. We’re only four weeks into the 2026 season, and Manning has already steered the Longhorns past two heavy hitters in Ohio State and Tennessee. The crazy part? Both of those victories combined were by a total of just four points! Think about that for a second. That’s a razor-thin margin to be pulling out of two massive matchups. Are these guys just built for the pressure cooker, or are they playing a dangerous game with their undefeated record? Manning seems to lean into the pressure, saying, “I think just being in these big-time close games is going to help us going forward because we have a lot of big games coming up in the schedule.” He sounds confident, but can Texas keep getting away with these bare-bones victories when the competition only gets tougher?
What’s Next for the Longhorns?
Texas is 4-0 and the No. 1 team in the nation, no doubt about it. But the way they’re winning, especially those two combined four-point thrillers, means every single snap going forward is going to be under a microscope. Manning says they have “a lot of big games coming up.” Well, he’s not wrong. The question is, can they learn from these tight squeezes and start putting teams away, or are we going to see this No. 1 squad continue to live on the edge, week after week? You can bet everyone will be watching to see if Texas can turn these frustrating, close calls into definitive victories.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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