Texas quarterback Arch Manning had his best showing of the 2025 season, accounting for five touchdowns in a 55-0 blowout win over Sam Houston on Saturday night.

Manning, who came into this season carrying outsized expectations but struggled for much of the first three weeks, completed a career-high 86 percent of his passes (18-of-21) for 309 yards and three touchdowns while adding two rushing scores against the Bearkats. His touchdown total tied his career high, set last year in a win over UTSA. Manning sat out for the rest of the game midway through the third quarter while the Longhorns possessed a 45-0 lead.

Although the Longhorns' opponent was clearly overmatched, there were still many reasons for Texas fans to be encouraged by Manning's performance. The redshirt sophomore looked comfortable, confident, accurate and operated in rhythm for most of the night, all things that have been hard to come by for him this season. After starting the game by completing five of his first eight passes, Manning finished the night by completing 13 consecutive attempts.

That's a stark contrast from his previous outing. In the Longhorns' Sept. 13 win over UTEP, Manning was erratic and had one stretch of 10 consecutive incompletions.

"He got going," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "You could feel the bounce in his step on the field. ... I was really happy for Arch. What he has to do is not easy. That's the life of a quarterback at Texas, especially when your last name is Manning. But I don't think anybody can handle it better than he's handled this.

"He didn't ask for any of this stuff. He just wants to be a really good teammate and a really good quarterback. But never has he complained about this situation. He just works."

Many of the issues that surfaced in Manning's play over the first three games of the year were largely absent on Saturday. He saw the field better and delivered passes on time, he didn't put the ball in harm's way and was able to attack all parts of the field, with a mix of short, intermediate and deep balls. He was much more decisive than he has been so far this season. The return of receiver DeAndre Moore (five catches, 79 yards) helped, and Moore caught all five of his targets.

Manning also connected with speedy sophomore Ryan Wingo for touchdowns of 53 and 13 yards. The two had struggled to find a consistent connection in the first few weeks of the season, but Wingo hauled in four of his six targets for 93 yards.

Manning joined Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Sam Ehlinger as the only Longhorn quarterbacks since 2000 to record multiple passing and multiple rushing touchdowns in a game. Manning completed a career-high nine passes of 15 or more yards, surpassing the eight he tallied against San Jose State this year and against ULM and Mississippi State last year.

Manning also displayed a level of emotion that hasn't been apparent this year. He was loose and demonstrative, which was somewhat emblematic of the personality he showed last season, but at times took those displays to levels not seen before. After his first touchdown run, Manning stared down Sam Houston linebacker Antavious Fish before the two were separated. An official spoke to Manning after the interaction, appearing to warn Manning, but didn't flag the quarterback.

"I always feel like he's at his best when that emotion kind of comes out some," Sarkisian said. "I think there was a lot built up in there, obviously, from last week that he needed to get out. But inevitably, I think the guys feed off of that from him. ... When he plays a little looser, a little bit more free, that's the best version of Arch."

No. 8 Texas compiled 607 yards of offense while the defense held Sam Houston to a meager 113 yards. The shutout was Texas' fourth under Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who have both been at Texas since 2021. The Longhorns (3-1) are off next week before traveling to Florida to take on the Gators on Oct. 4 to open SEC play.

(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Arch Manning totals 5 TDs in best showing of season in Texas' win over Sam Houston