For most of the night, Texas looked like they were about to lose to Ohio State all over again.

The Longhorns fumbled on their first offensive snap, Arch Manning threw an interception on his second pass. It really seemed like what could go wrong, would go wrong. Then Steve Sarkisian’s fourth-down end-around lost 10 yards and all signs pointed to Ohio State turning a 23-3 lead into a comfortable win in front of more than 105,000 fans in Austin.

And then, somehow, Texas came all the way back.

Manning started hitting the throws he’d missed earlier. Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown found running room. The Longhorns converted the fourth downs that had haunted them in their previous two meetings with Ohio State, and that defense found a way to shut out the Buckeyes in the fourth quarter.

With 25 seconds left, Smothers powered through from the one-yard line to give Texas a 24-23 lead. Just like that, a game Ohio State had controlled for three quarters became one of the wildest comebacks you'll see in college football this year — and the biggest fourth-quarter rally ever against an AP No. 1 team.

Ohio State Took Control Immediately

There really wasn't much of a feeling-out period. Ohio State won the toss, deferred, and then watched Texas give the ball away six seconds into the game.

Manning's first pass was a quick throw to Brown, who got hit behind the line by Jay Timmons and fumbled at the Texas 18. Timmons recovered it himself. The Buckeyes only got a 26-yard Connor Hawkins field goal out of the mistake, so Texas at least avoided giving up seven points right away. Then they made another mistake almost immediately.

Manning went deep for Cam Coleman on his second attempt. Coleman got both hands on the ball, but he couldn't finish the catch. The ball popped up, and Jaylen McClain came down with the interception. Ohio State took over at their own 19 and marched 81 yards in 10 plays. Julian Sayin hit Jeremiah Smith for gains of 19, 13 and six yards, and Ja'Kobi Jackson finished the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run.

Just like that, it was 10-0, and Ohio State looked completely in control. Sayin was calm and Smith was doing what Smith does: drawing attention and still finding space. On the other side, Matt Patricia's defense packed the middle and made the Longhorns earn every short completion.

Texas finally put together a drive in the second quarter, going 69 yards in 16 plays over 7:41. For the first time, the offense looked like they had found its footing. But the drive stalled after Manning took a sack and missed Coleman on third-and-15, so Texas had to settle for a 37-yard field goal.

Jeremiah Smith Was The Best Player On The Field

Smith had been pretty quiet in the first two meetings between these teams. He caught one pass for three yards in the Cotton Bowl semifinal after the 2024 season, then had three catches for 31 yards in the 2025 opener. Texas had come up with two solid plans for him. The third one didn't work.

Smith caught six passes for 110 yards before halftime. One 43-yard catch put Ohio State in position for another Hawkins field goal. Then, with 10 seconds left in the half, he caught a 19-yard touchdown that made Texas feel their night could be over.

The Longhorns faced fourth-and-one at the Ohio State 41 with less than a minute left. Sarkisian called an end-around for Wingo, but Jermaine Mathews Jr. blew it up for a 10-yard loss. Just like that, Texas gave Sayin 49 yards and 49 seconds to put the game out of reach.

He needed four plays and 39 seconds.

Sayin hit Bo Jackson for gains of 11 and 13 yards, then found Smith for the touchdown. Smith adjusted to the ball and finished through contact which gave Ohio State a halftime lead of a 20-3. Sayin was 12-of-16 for 192 yards, and the Buckeyes had turned Texas' failed fourth down into seven points. At that point, the game felt pretty close to over.

Smith still wasn't finished. Early in the third quarter, he beat the coverage on third-and-10 for another 43-yard catch. Ohio State couldn't finish that drive with a touchdown, but Hawkins knocked through a 48-yard field goal to make it 23-3.

Smith ended the night with eight catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. Texas never really took him away. They just stopped letting him control every possession. Sayin completed only five of 16 passes after halftime, and none of Smith's three fourth-quarter targets turned into catches.

Texas Finally Found A Drive They Could Trust

The comeback started with 5:47 left in the third quarter, eve though it didn't feel like a comeback yet. Texas and Ohio State had traded three-and-outs, then Ryan Niblett muffed the Buckeyes' punt. Kade Phillips recovered it at the Texas nine, giving the Longhorns 91 yards to go.

Manning got things moving with runs of 10 and eight yards. Ohio State had spent most of the night squeezing the pocket and taking away the easy throws underneath. Manning's legs finally made the defense account for something else, and the offense started to breathe a little.

Of course, Texas nearly stalled anyway. A pass to Brown lost four yards, and two more empty plays left the Longhorns facing fourth-and-nine from their own 42. Manning stood in against the pressure and found Emaree Winston right at the marker. Winston got exactly what he needed to. One play later, he caught another pass and turned it into a 22-yard gain.

Texas needed a little more help from the chaos, and they got it. Emmett Mosley V caught a third-and-eight pass and fought for 13 yards just to have the ball knocked loose. Coleman recovered it at the Ohio State 12. Manning ran for seven yards on the final play of the third quarter, then Wingo caught a three-yard touchdown 41 seconds into the fourth.

Suddenly, it was 23-10. More importantly, Texas had finally made Ohio State play a different game.

The 91-yard drive took 15 plays and 6:28. Texas converted fourth-and-nine, recovered their own fumble, and kept finding ways to stay alive. After getting pushed around for most of the night, the Longhorns had finally found something they could lean on.

Arch Manning Kept The Comeback Alive

Manning finished 23-of-37 for 196 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The numbers weren't exactly eye-popping. He missed a few throws downfield and needed his teammates to recover two fumbles after his early interception.

For most of the night, he looked more like the quarterback who struggled in Columbus a year ago than the player people thought would be a top NFL draft pick. That part matters. So does what happened next.

After Texas cut the lead to 13, then the defense forced a three-and-out. The Longhorns got the ball back and quickly found themselves in trouble again: a four-yard completion, a run for no gain, and an incompletion left Manning facing fourth-and-six from the Texas 32. Ohio State even called timeout to get their defense organized.

Manning still found Mosley for 12 yards.

That was the throw that made the comeback feel real. Ohio State had been one stop away from getting the ball back with a 13-point lead and less than 12 minutes left. Instead, Coleman caught a 16-yard pass to move Texas inside the 20.

Brown ran for 12 yards to the three, and Smothers finished the drive from there. A game that had been 23-3 was suddenly 23-17 with 7:14 remaining.

Manning went 8-of-11 for 83 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He also completed 11 of his final 15 passes. Twice, Texas faced a fourth down on their own side of the field with the game hanging in the balance. Twice, Manning kept a touchdown drive alive.

He said he knew it was Texas' time when Hawkins missed the late field goal. Maybe that was the moment. But the bigger shift had already happened. After three quarters of giving everyone plenty of reasons to doubt him, Manning started playing like he expected Texas to win.

Ohio State Left The Door Open One Last Time

Ohio State's offense didn't totally fall apart after Texas cut the lead to six. The Buckeyes put together a drive that should've slammed the door.

Sayin hit Nate Roberts for 24 yards, then a Texas pass-interference penalty pushed Ohio State across midfield. After a few chunk runs, suddenly the Buckeyes were in position to make the comeback feel like a nice try.

Then everything got a little tighter.

Bo Jackson lost a yard on second-and-three. On third-and-four, Sayin went deep for Smith instead of taking the shorter option, and the pass fell incomplete. Hawkins came out for a 45-yard field goal that would've pushed the lead back to nine with 4:16 left.

He missed it left.

It's easy to point at that kick and make it the entire reason Ohio State lost. But the Buckeyes had already left too many points sitting out there. They got into the red zone five times and came away with two touchdowns, two field goals and a turnover on downs.

None of that felt especially dangerous when Ohio State was up 20. It mattered a whole lot once Texas started turning those same long drives into touchdowns instead of field goals.

The Buckeyes also lost some of their rhythm after halftime. Sayin threw for 192 yards in the first half and 86 in the second. Ohio State gained 132 yards after the break and scored just three points. Their first fourth-quarter possession lasted three plays: two runs and an incompletion. The next ended with a deep shot on third-and-manageable and then they missed kick.

Ryan Day said Ohio State had Texas “on the ropes and didn't finish.” That's pretty much the game.

Hollywood Smothers Finished The Job

Texas took over at their own 27 with 4:16 left and didn’t need to panic. The Longhorns were down six, but the run game was finally starting to wear Ohio State down. So they stuck with it.

Brown picked up 11 yards to get Texas across midfield. Smothers followed with an eight-yard run on third-and-two. Then Manning hit Mosley for 17 yards, found him again for four, and connected with him one more time for 19 yards to bring Texas down to the one.

That last yard turned into an adventure.

Ohio State stopped Smothers on first down. On second down, Jason Moore knocked the ball loose, but Brown recovered it at the one. Replay confirmed that Smothers hadn’t crossed the goal line, leaving Texas with third-and-goal, 28 seconds left, and one more shot to finish the comeback instead of turning it into a really painful “almost.”

Smothers got the call again and finally broke through with 25 seconds left. Gianni Spetic hit the extra point, and when Graceson Littleton picked off Sayin’s final pass as time expired, Texas had beaten Ohio State for the first time in three tries over three seasons.

Smothers finished with 74 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Brown added 54 yards on 10 attempts. The big thing wasn’t just how many yards they got. It was when they got them. Texas converted nine of 16 third downs and two of three fourth downs, then scored touchdowns on all four trips to the red zone. The Longhorns kept making Ohio State tackle in the heat until the Buckeyes finally couldn’t keep up.

Texas’ three touchdown drives covered 40 plays and took nearly 16 minutes off the clock. Ohio State didn’t give up one huge play that flipped the game. They just kept giving up one manageable down, one Smothers run, that kept the drive alive.

This Win Changed More Than The Rankings

Texas moved to 2-0 and climbed to No. 1 in Sunday's AP poll, picking up 56 first-place votes along the way. But the ranking isn't the most important part of this. What Texas proved to themselves is.

The Longhorns had already lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal after the 2024 season, then dropped a 14-7 game in Columbus to open 2025. In both games, Texas played from behind and really struggled in short-yardage situations.

This time, Texas fell behind by even more and still found a way out.

It was Texas' first home win over an AP No. 1 team since 1950. The comeback was the second-largest fourth-quarter rally in program history, and it evened the all-time series at 3-3. More than anything, though, Texas showed they can play a pretty rough game for most of the night and still find a way to win it before the clock hits zero.

Ohio State dropped to No. 6, but this loss doesn't knock the Buckeyes out of the national-title picture. Losing by one point on the road to the new No. 1 team is hardly a season-killer in a 12-team playoff.

Still, the way Ohio State lost is going to stick with them.

The Buckeyes are now 1-3 in their last four games, with losses to Indiana in the Big Ten title game, Miami in last season's playoff, and Texas on Saturday. All three came against top-10 teams, so this isn't some team falling apart against everybody. Ohio State is still really good. They just haven't been great at finishing these games lately.

Smith was ridiculous. Sayin played at a high level for a half. The defense was almost perfect until Texas kept forcing them back onto the field for drive after drive. Ohio State wasn't exposed as a fraud. They showed exactly how good they can be, then showed that they still have some work to do when a heavyweight starts punching back.

Texas kept punching.

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