Arch Manning, Texas Longhorns Lead Vanderbilt After Dominant First Half

Heading into Saturday's home game against the Vanderbilt Commodores, the Texas Longhorns had a lot of questions to answer. Not only were they coming home after back-to-back overtime wins against lower-tier SEC teams on the road, but for most of the week, they didn't even know who their starting quarterback would be after Arch Manning suffered a concussion last week against Mississippi State.

Well, the Longhorns answered one of those questions by giving Manning the start after he came off the availability report on Friday, and then answered a lot more with their play. At halftime, the No. 20 Longhonrs lead the No. 9 Commodores 24-10 after a dominant first 30 minutes.

Texas' offense looked as good as it has all season late in the Mississippi State game, and it has kept that momentum going against Vanderbilt. In fact, it all started on the first play from scrimmage.

Texas Longhorns Beating Up on Vanderbilt Commodores

Nov 1, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver Ryan Wingo (1) runs for a 75 yard touchdown after catching a pass on the first play of the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

After the Longhorns received the opening kickoff, Manning threw a screen pass to Ryan Wingo, who took it 75 yards for a quick touchdown. That gave the Longhorns a rare first punch this season, and they just kept going from there.

On the Commodores' first drive, Colin Simmons strip sacked Diego Pavia and recovered the fumble deep in Vanderbilt territory. The Longhorns only got a field goal out of it, but they showed early on that they weren't messing around on either side of the ball.

As if that wasn't a good enough start, the Longhorns just kept going from there, putting together two-straight long touchdown drives. The first was a 10-play, 83-yard drive that ended with Manning finding CJ Baxter for a six-yard touchdown. Then after the Commodores scored a field goal, the Longhorns put together an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Quintrevion Wisner scoring from four yards out.

The Commodores came back and scored a touchdown just before halftime, with Pavia finding Eli Stowers for an 18-yard score, but it was still a great half overall for the Longhorns.

Manning had himself an outstanding first half, completing 12 of 15 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns. Wingo had two receptions for 89 yards, including the aforementioned 75-yard touchdown, but left the game due to an apparent thumb injury. Wisner had 33 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

For the Commodores, Pavia completed 14 of 18 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown, but has already taken three sacks. Texas held Vanderbilt to a measly 14 rushing yards on 13 carries (1.1 yards per attempt).

The Commodores will get the ball to start the second half.