Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Oct 3, 2026 1:39 PM
No. 1 Texas reaches its bye week unbeaten after surviving Ohio State and Tennessee, with rival Oklahoma waiting next at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
The Texas Longhorns finally get a chance to breathe.
No. 1 Texas enters Saturday’s bye week at 4-0 after navigating one of the most demanding opening stretches in college football, including victories over then-No. 1 Ohio State and then-No. 14 Tennessee.
Now Steve Sarkisian’s team gets an extra week to heal, correct its mistakes and prepare for Oklahoma.
And there’s plenty to fix despite the perfect record.
Texas needed one of the wildest comebacks of the season to beat Ohio State. The Longhorns entered the fourth quarter trailing 23-3 before Arch Manning directed three touchdown drives in a 24-23 win. Manning finished with 195 passing yards, while the Texas defense shut out Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes over the final 15 minutes.
Two weeks later, Texas survived another heavyweight fight.
The Longhorns escaped Knoxville with a 20-17 win over Tennessee behind a dominant defensive effort.
Texas held the Volunteers to 221 total yards and piled up 10 sacks. Colin Simmons was nearly unstoppable, setting a school record with 5.5 sacks while adding nine tackles and a forced fumble.
The offense, however, remains a work in progress.
“We all want to perform at a really high level, and we want to be a complete team,” Sarkisian said during the bye week. “We haven’t done that yet offensively on a consistent enough basis.”
That makes the timing of the open date useful.
Texas now turns toward the Red River Rivalry, where Oklahoma arrives with far more questions than expected. The Sooners are 2-2 after losing 17-10 at Michigan and getting hammered 41-13 at Georgia.
Quarterback John Mateer threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns against the Bulldogs, but Oklahoma committed four turnovers in the loss.
None of that will matter much once Texas and Oklahoma meet in Dallas.
Rivalry games have a way of ignoring records, rankings and momentum.
The Longhorns have already proven they can survive adversity. The next challenge is showing they can play a complete game.
Texas and Oklahoma kick off Saturday, October 10 at 2:30 p.m. CT at the Cotton Bowl.
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