Arch Manning admitted after Saturday night’s comeback win over LSU that it was nice to ruin LSU’s College Football Playoff hopes.
The No. 6 Longhorns scored with three seconds remaining to beat the No. 21 Tigers 22-21. Manning found Raleek Brown on a swing pass near the pylon for the game-winning score.
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“We talked about how, you know, you have to end someone else’s dream, and I like to focus on us, but it kind of feels good to at times,” Manning said after the game.
LSU, now 6-4, will probably fall out of the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday. Had the Tigers beaten Texas and then beaten No. 8 Tennessee in Week 12, a win over Arkansas in the final week of the regular season could have positioned LSU for the playoff.
Instead, LSU will end the regular season at no better than 8-4 in Lane Kiffin’s first year. The Tigers lost no more than four games in any of Brian Kelly’s three full seasons in charge before firing Kelly after a 5-3 start in 2025.
It’s also the second straight week where Texas has effectively ended a team’s postseason hopes. In Week 10, the Longhorns handed Missouri a third loss before those Tigers made sure they weren’t playoff contenders on Saturday with a blowout defeat at No. 1 Georgia.
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Texas got the go-ahead touchdown after Brown quickly motioned out of the backfield to the left. He was open in the flat and had an easy touchdown as LSU’s defense was late to travel with him.
“I saw no one really running with Raleek — or he was late to run out there, so I spit it to him,” Manning said. “I probably could have thrown it earlier and that’s that.”
The final drive made up for what was otherwise a poor performance for Manning. He and LSU QB Sam Leavitt each threw three interceptions and a significant chunk of the 174 yards Manning threw for came on that final drive.
“I think in a bunch of years I’m going to tell everyone we had a game-winning drive and everyone going to forget the three picks,” Manning said.
