BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Arch Manning — like his grandfather and uncle before him — has a return to Death Valley under his belt.
Manning found Raleek Brown for a 4-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline with 3 seconds left, and No. 8 Texas escaped Tiger Stadium with a 22-21 victory over No. 24 LSU on Saturday night.
“That’s what it’s all about: Death Valley at night, two minutes away, here we go,” Manning said.
The dramatic victory in the state where Manning grew up — and in a stadium where he attended games as a child — kept Texas (8-2, 5-2 SEC, No. 6 CFP) firmly in contention for a College Football Playoff berth while virtually eliminating LSU (6-4, 3-4, No. 21 CFP).
“It means the world,” Manning said. “I would point out to some of my teammates where I sat at those games growing up. So just to come home and do it in the last seconds, that’s a memory I’ll have for the rest of my life.”
Manning, who also rushed to score quickly, was an unspectacular 19 of 35 passing for 174 yards and a touchdown with three interceptions. But he looked done for the moment when Texas started its final drive alone on the 42, trailing 21-16, with 2:19 to play.
He converted three third downs — one with a 5-yard pass and two with his legs — to launch his game-winning strike into the end zone near where his celebrating parents, Cooper and Ellen, were sitting.
“It hadn’t been great all night; I thought it was time to do it,” Manning said. “I grew up with a lot of LSU fans. So it’s going to feel good to come back for Mardi Gras, or to come back every time I come home (to New Orleans), and not let them talk shit.”
Before leaving the field for the locker room, Manning found his father, who had walked to the front row behind that same end zone, and they embraced.
“My dad is definitely who I think about when things get tough. I just think about digging deep, and he always tells me to keep going,” Manning said. “He just said he was really proud. So I’m going to remember that for the rest of my life.”
LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt passed for 244 yards and two touchdowns to Jackson Harris, but like Manning, he was intercepted three times – all by Texas safety Jelani McDonald.
LSU will also regret a missed 38-yard field goal late in the first half, which ended with the Tigers leading 14-10.
“They’re a really good Texas team, but you can see we have a ways to go to be a dominant team and not play such close games,” first-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin said. “We lost. It didn’t matter, we were 7 seconds away from winning.”
In 1968, Manning’s grandfather, Archie, led Mississippi to a comeback victory at Tiger Stadium. So did his uncle, Eli, in 2001. For Texas to win, a third generation of Mannings was going to have to follow suit after LSU running back Dilin Jones weaved a 44-yard run that gave the Tigers a 21-10 lead with 5:52 left in the third quarter.
“It feels good to be a part of it,” Manning said when the topic of Tiger Stadium’s family legacy came up.
Gianni Spetic’s 41- and 50-yard field goals cut LSU’s lead to 21-16. The Texas defense then came up with several curcial positions to give Manning the extra chance he needed to lead the Longhorns to victory.
Manning “has a competitive spirit in him. It was tough and he’s tough,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “What an effort at the end of the game to get it all out of the way. He competed at a very high level tonight against a very good defense. … What a moment for him.”
Takeaways
Texas: The Longhorns were outscored 366-273, but their defense got stops when needed down the stretch to cap a performance highlighted by three takeaways and three sacks.
LSU: After collapsing in the fourth quarter of their loss to Alabama a week earlier, the Tigers were quiet on offense again in the final period – giving Manning one opportunity too many. It was also LSU’s second straight loss despite significantly outscoring its opponent. Leavitt, meanwhile, has thrown 12 interceptions in 10 games.
To be continued
Texas hosts Arkansas next Saturday.
LSU visits No. 9 Tennessee next Saturday.
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