Arch Manning Outduels John Mateer In Red River Upset

Here are five thoughts from Texas’ 23-6 win vs. No. 6 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game Saturday at the Cotton Bowl.

The stakes

Texas remains in the game.

The Longhorns aren’t out of it, at least, now with a 4-2 record two games into Southeastern Conference play. Their loss to a disheveled Florida program last week flung their College Football Playoff hopes into crisis mode. Their win Saturday vs. the nation’s sixth-ranked team certainly holds their window into the conference title game open and could potentially elevate them back into the AP Top 25 poll.

Texas has now won three of the last four games vs. Oklahoma. Saturday’s win marked its first instance of back-to-back wins in the series since 2008-09. The Sooners had separate two-game, three-game and four-game win streaks since then.

The turning point

The Longhorns held a one-score lead at the start of the fourth quarter. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, a Little Elm alum, tried to change that with his legs.

Mateer sprinted down the sideline for a 33-yard run on the third play of the fourth quarter to pull Oklahoma into the red zone. The play was called back because of a Kent Carson hold, and on the next snap, Mateer threw his third interception of the day on a lazy pass that Texas cornerback Graceson Littleton hauled in.

The Longhorns went three-and-out on the ensuing drive and Mason Shipley missed a 56-yard field goal attempt to end it. On Oklahoma’s next drive, though, Mateer threw a backwards pass that was fumbled out of bounds for a loss of 13 yards to doom the possession.

The Sooners were forced to punt two plays later; receiver Ryan Niblett returned it 75 yards for a touchdown that gave the Longhorns a 20-6 lead with 9:59 left to play. Oklahoma turned the ball over on downs on their next possession afterward to clinch the Texas win.

Manning vs. Mateer

Texas quarterback Arch Manning outplayed his peer across the sideline after a week of scrutiny. He completed 21 of his 27 pass attempts for just 166 yards and a touchdown, didn’t turn the ball over and still had to operate with an offensive line and run game that weren’t entirely up to par.

Mateer — out since Sep. 20 with a thumb injury — returned for the rivalry game but hardly looked comfortable or in command. He threw three interceptions and offered the Longhorns opportunities for at least two others in the second half. The Washington State transfer completed 17 of his 31 pass attempts for 167 yards.

The offensive line play

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged in his pre-game news conference that his team’s offensive line has “got to play better.”

The Longhorns might have an attack to work with if it can consistently. There were moments of that reality in Saturday’s game. Like, for example, when the offensive line stood tall in the third quarter and gave Manning a clean pocket in the red zone.

Manning, with a rare few seconds to breathe, was able to find DeAndre Moore Jr. open in the end zone for a 10-6 lead and the game’s first touchdown with 7:49 left in the quarter. The Longhorns were able to rip four runs of five-plus yards on that drive, too, to help set it up.

It just took a half of football to reach that. Oklahoma’s defensive line bullied the Longhorns in the first half and totaled six tackles for loss before halftime. That doesn’t include the two penalties — one false start flag and one hold — that stalled them on their first drive of the game.

Manning was often under pressure and the Longhorns were largely limited to quick passes at the line of scrimmage and screens. Only a third of the throws that he completed in the first half went for 10 or more yards and only one — a 24-yarder to Moore on a first-quarter drive which ended in a punt — could’ve been classified as a big play.

Hometown hero

Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad played high school football at South Oak Cliff, some 20 minutes from the Cotton Bowl, and won two historic 5A Div. II state championships before college.

No wonder he looked so comfortable Saturday afternoon.

Muhammad intercepted Mateer twice in the first half to help hold the Sooners to just a pair of field goals. He undercut a route to intercept Mateer near midfield with 3:39 left in the first quarter. In the second, with less than a minute before halftime, the Sooners were in field goal range but Mateer attempted a questionable throw into the end zone from 30 yards out. Muhammad tracked it and caught it like a fair catch to send the Longhorns into the locker room down by three.

The junior defensive back missed last Saturday’s loss against Florida with an injury.

Photos: Arch Manning dons Golden Hat, waves goodbye to OU fans after win at Cotton Bowl