No. 4 Texas rallies from 20-point deficit to beat No. 1 Ohio State, 24-23

No. 4 Texas erased a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit Saturday night, beating No. 1 Ohio State 24-23 in Austin on Hollywood Smothers’ 1-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left.

Texas trailed 23-3 entering the fourth quarter at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium before scoring 21 unanswered points in the final period. According to Texas’ official game center and CBS Sports’ play-by-play and box score, the Longhorns closed with three fourth-quarter touchdowns after being shut out in the first and third quarters.

The comeback began quickly. Texas quarterback Arch Manning threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Wingo with 14:19 remaining, cutting Ohio State’s lead to 23-10. After Ohio State failed to add to its lead on Connor Hawkins’ missed 45-yard field-goal attempt earlier in the quarter, Texas kept the pressure on.

Smothers, the Texas running back, scored on a 1-yard run with 7:14 left to pull the Longhorns within 23-17. Then, on the decisive drive, Texas went back to him again. With 25 seconds remaining, Smothers went over the pile from 1 yard out for the go-ahead score, as The Associated Press reported, completing the rally and giving Texas its first lead of the night.

Ohio State led 10-0 after the first quarter and 20-3 at halftime before adding a field goal in the third to push the margin to 23-3. The Buckeyes finished with 372 total yards — 278 passing and 94 rushing — while Texas totaled 336 yards, with 196 through the air and 140 on the ground. Manning started at quarterback for Texas, and Julian Sayin started for Ohio State.

Smothers finished with 74 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and three catches for 29 yards, making him the central figure in Texas’ late surge. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith turned in the biggest individual yardage total of the game, finishing with 164 receiving yards and a touchdown.

The matchup was one of the early marquee games of the college football season, pitting the top-ranked Buckeyes against the fourth-ranked Longhorns. Ohio State had won the teams’ previous two notable meetings, including the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinal and the 2025 season opener. AP described the result as arguably the biggest regular-season win of Steve Sarkisian’s six seasons as Texas coach.