No. 7 Texas at No. 18 Missouri live updates: Horns and Tigers tied at 10-10 at halftime

The No. 7 Texas Longhorns are in Columbia to play the No. 18 Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field on Saturday with College Football Playoff implications for both two-loss teams.

Texas boasts three of the best wins in college football and two frustrating losses to unranked opponents. Missouri is currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in after falling to the state of Mississippi, dropping road games to the Bulldogs and the Rebels. At home, Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers have conference wins over the Gators and Razorbacks.

Pregame injury report

On Friday, junior wide receiver Ryan Wingo, sophomore cornerback Kade Phillips, and sophomore nickel back Graceson Littleton were upgraded from questionable to probable before coming off the injury report on Saturday. Listed as questionable on the first three injury reports, junior wide receiver Cam Coleman and junior edge Colin Simmons are game-time decisions.

As kickoff approached, Simmons was going through pregame warmups.

First quarter

Missouri won the toss and deferred to the second half. Fifth-year running back Raleek Brown moved the chains on a swing pass and a run up the middle and Wingo caught a speed out for four yards for a positive first-down play. But after senior quarterback Arch Manning checked down to sophomore tight end Emaree Winston for one yard, Winston’s effort to chip Missouri edge Darris Smith wasn’t ultimately effective when senior left tackle Melvin Siani got beat quickly and Manning held the ball too long in the pocket.

The punt by senior Mac Chiumento only traveled 33 yards.

The Tigers opened the game offensively with an effective script, taking advantage of a matchup against senior safety Derek Williams for a 15-yard completion over the middle, a six-yard run by Jamal Roberts, then a rub route caused senior cornerback Warren Roberson and senior safety Jelani McDonald to run into each other as Robertson grabbed the wide receiver and was flagged for pass interference.

A push pass out leveraged the Texas defense for a 16-yard gain to set up 1st and goal from the 6-yard line. On 2nd and goal, quarterback Austin Simmons pulled a zone run and followed a block by his tight end that knocked Williams back to the goal line, where Simmons was initially ruled to find the corner of the end zone, but overturned on review, forcing Missouri to convert in short yardage.

Going with a quick snap in an unbalanced formation, the Longhorns won at the point of attack on a toss play that went for a one-yard loss, but the Tigers were able to get tight end Brett Norfleet in motion behind the formation and into the flat, where Williams was just a little bit late to the catch point for a 7-0 lead. The seven-play, 68-yard drive took 3:22 off the clock.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian schemed up a good look for Wingo on a wheel route, but Manning floated the ball too much to hit the window underneath the safety for an incompletion. Good feet in the hole from Brown picked up 13 yards and a screen to Wingo went for four yards on a play that left Missouri defender end Langden Kitchen down on the field injured.

Brown’s quickness to the edge allowed him to beat a linebacker coming downhill for 12 yards and Manning connected with fifth-year tight end Michael Masunas for a five-yard gain with a free runner coming off the edge. Another flash of good vision from Brown picked up seven yards, setting up another return of Sarkisian’s patented throwback screen to freshman running back Derrek Cooper, who took it 24 yards for a touchdown behind well-executed blocks.

The game-tying drive went 65 yards on seven plays took just 2:30.

After a 27-yard return by Missouri, Simmons started the drive with a nine-yard completion before Roberts secured a fresh set of downs. A well-placed back-shoulder throw by Simmons to Donovan Olugbode was initially ruled incomplete, a call upheld on review. Misses by Simmons on second and third down ended the drive as Roberson had sticky coverage on the money down.

Missouri was flagged for holding on the punt, allowing Texas to start its drive on the 28-yard line. Junior wide receiver Emmett Mosley V found a hole in the zone coverage, but had the ball stripped as he tried to make an upfield move and the Tigers recovered.

The Missouri drive quickly got a boost from Texas senior defensive tackle Ian Geffrard tackling Roberts by his face mask, then from Norfleet on a 15-yard reception on a crossing route. Simmons lost his footwork on a mesh concept that wasn’t space well, causing him to miss a receiver who came open. An option route by Cayden Lee from a bunch formation beat two defenders to convert 3rd and 7 set up a fade route initially ruled a touchdown against more sticky coverage by Roberson, who was only beat by a perfectly-placed throw, but the review determined that the receiver did not maintain possession to the ground. The Texas defense got off the field when senior linebacker Rasheem Biles broke up a pass in the end zone and Eli Drinkwitz opted against testing the Longhorns in short yardage once again, settling for a 22-yard field goal.

After a touchback, a designed run by Manning was well defended, leading to a 3rd and 6 after a three-yard run by sophomore running back Michael Terry III that ended the first quarter.

Second quarter

A 14-yard completion to Mosley on an out route extended the drive, Terry ran for five yards up the middle, and Wingo moved the chains again on a misdirection reverse as Santana Banner made a touchdown-saving tackle. Indecision by Manning about whether to run or pass after scrambling left out of the pocket resulted in an ugly incomplete pass. After a pass completed to Wingo for no gain and a check down to Winston that went for four yards, Texas tried a hard count and took a delay of game before punting the ball away, a better effort by Chiumento downed at the 3-yard line.

Inexplicably, the Longhorns didn’t snap the ball when a defender was in the neutral zone.

Two completions by Simmons created some space off the goal line. Texas senior linebacker Justin Cryer had a chance to stop a wide receiver screen by reading it quickly, but missed the tackle, leading to a 14-yard gain. An impressive leaping catch by Lee moved Missouri into the shot zone, where the predictable shot play fell incomplete in the end zone.

A completion for nine yards and a flash of remarkable contact balance from Roberts went for 12 yards, but the drive fizzled out thanks to two incompletions and a run stuff of Roberts as Texas stretched the wide zone to the sideline.

Blake Craig missed wide right from 38 yards to end the lengthy drive.

Banner made another impressive play knocking the ball loose from Masunas on a big hit for an incompletion. On 2nd and 10, Brown was one missed tackle away from a huge gain, but went down after eight yards, leading to a Texas punt when Manning made an inaccurate off-platform throw targeting Winston in the flat that hit the turf at Faurot Field.

From a three-safety look, Littleton dropped Roberts for a two-yard gain to start the drive as Geffrard sustained a knock. Blitzing both linebackers resulted in Biles hitting Simmons as he released the ball. Dropping in coverage on the next play, Biles carried the wide receiver deep down the seam to break up the pass.

The punt return unit came up with a huge play as the Tigers tried to punt when sophomore nickel back Johnathan Cunningham blocked it, the first blocked punt by the Longhorns since the Red River Rivalry in 2023.

Texas recovered from a false start penalty with a 22-yard pass over the middle to Wingo, whose tough running after the catch picked up extra yardage. Manning was indecisive on a designed run and came off his read quickly on a fake screen to his left, scrambling for no gain instead. On 3rd and 11, Manning hit Masunas for a 10-yard gain to send the game into the two-minute timeout with Sarkisian facing a decision on 4th and 1.

Sarkisian made a rare conservative decision to take the points to tie the game at 10-10.

That set up an important drive for the Longhorns defense with the Tigers getting the ball first in the second half. Facing 3rd and 3, Missouri called a screen to Lee blown up by Texas senior cornerback Bo Mascoe. As Lee tried to drive his legs to pick up the first down, the ball was ripped out and McDonald recovered, but officials ruled Lee’s forward progress stopped even though the whistle wasn’t blown until the ball was out, and the call was upheld on review as the half ended on the subsequent punt by the Tigers.