For the second-straight week, Texas football fans sat on the edges of their seats with hearts pumping as they saw their team enter overtime. And for the second straight week, the Texas Longhorns won an SEC road game in overtime.

There’s a lot to take away from the 45-38 shootout win, and while it’s mostly positive compared to last week, it wasn’t a perfect win by any means.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs entered this game as one of the most explosive offenses in the SEC, and they certainly played like it on Saturday. The Longhorns were really missing Michael Taaffe in this one, with Bulldog starting quarterback Blake Shapen throwing for a career high 381 passing yards and four touchdowns to go along with it.

The Texas secondary got burned in many instances, such as the 23-yard touchdown pass to Brennan Thompson to end the first half and the 62-yard touchdown from Davon Booth, which was a result of a handful of missed tackles and poor angles. While the team stepped up when it mattered most, the secondary has some steps to take if they want to beat Vanderbilt next week without Taaffe.

Ryan Niblett might just be the team's MVP this season. With only 1:47 left in the game, Texas would get the ball back with a shot at tying the game. They’d do just that without the offense ever needing to step on the field. In a showing of pure speed, balance and exceptional athleticism, Niblett took the punt 79 yards to the house, silencing the deafening cowbells.

Ethan Burke also secured Texas its first blocked field goal of the season when the 6’6 lineman jumped up to swat down a 47-yard field goal attempt. The only thing keeping special teams from being the greatest was a rare missed field goal from Mason Shipley, 29 yards out at the start of the second half.

No run game, no problem.

Arch Manning played his greatest game this season. Throwing for 346 yards with three touchdowns in the air and one on the ground, Manning flipped the script on this season's story–making up for what the defense couldn’t. Other than a couple of misses here and there, Manning hit more than just the layups. Most notably, a 62-yard pass to Ryan Wingo at the start of the fourth quarter, which would set Texas up for a touchdown.

While Manning did throw an interception, it wasn’t necessarily a bad throw. He tried to squeeze a pass into a tight window to Parker Livingstone in double coverage — a ball that hit Livingstone in the hands and arguably should’ve been caught. While QB conversations will naturally be after Matthew Caldwell’s beautifully thrown fade in overtime, Texas wouldn’t have been in that position if it weren’t for Manning. And for that, he earns the distinction of “greatest”.