AI-produced: generated with AI tools and reviewed by Ayokunle Spencer.
Arch Manning accounted for 376 total yards and four touchdowns as Texas beat Michigan 41-27 in the 80th Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on December 31, 2025 in Orlando. It was the best performance of his career to that point, and it closed one of the strangest months any major program has had.
Manning took the game over
Manning went 21 of 34 for 221 yards and two touchdown passes, and ran nine times for 155 yards and two more scores. He was the obvious MVP before his final touchdown and unarguable after it.
The teams went to halftime tied at 17. Manning's 23-yard touchdown run put Texas ahead 24-20 in the third quarter, and Michigan freshman Bryce Underwood answered with a five-yard touchdown run that made it 27-24 early in the fourth.
Manning responded about four minutes later with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kaliq Lockett that put Texas back in front. Ty'Anthony Smith then intercepted Underwood, and Manning ended it with a 60-yard touchdown run for 38-27.
He was the first player to rush for 155 or more yards in a Citrus Bowl since Missouri's Marcus Murphy in 2015. Asked about the family history at the venue — his uncle Peyton threw for 408 yards there for Tennessee in the 1997 game — Manning said he was not trying to come back.
Texas played it short-handed
Texas played without nine starters. The defense recorded three interceptions — two by Smith, a career high — and held Michigan to 373 total yards.
The win gave Texas a tenth victory in a season that had begun with the Longhorns ranked No. 1 in the preseason and had not gone according to plan.
Michigan's month
The Wolverines arrived in Orlando under interim head coach Biff Poggi. Michigan had fired Sherrone Moore three weeks earlier, on December 10, for an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, and he was arrested the same day. He was initially charged with felony home invasion, stalking and illegal entry. Moore later pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors, trespassing and malicious use of a telecommunications device, and the original charges were dropped. On April 14, 2026, a Washtenaw County judge sentenced him to 18 months of probation.
The program was also serving NCAA probation stemming from the sign-stealing and recruiting case, with fines reported to exceed $20 million. We covered the NCAA's ruling and what it meant for Moore in our earlier piece on the Michigan infractions.
Michigan hired longtime Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to take over. Poggi, who had gone 2-0 as interim earlier in the season while Moore served a suspension tied to the 2023 sign-stealing matter, lost for the first time in the role and said he would not return under Whittingham.
Two former No. 1 recruits
The quarterback matchup was the draw: Manning and Underwood, both former top overall prospects, at very different stages. Manning was in his third year in the program. Underwood was a true freshman.
Underwood ran for 77 yards and threw three interceptions.
The Citrus Bowl was a snapshot of two careers at different points on the same curve — and, for Michigan, the last game of a season it will want to forget for reasons that had little to do with football.
Updated October 7, 2026: An earlier version said Manning was the first player to rush for 155 yards in a Citrus Bowl since Marcus Allen; the previous player was Missouri's Marcus Murphy in 2015. It also said Texas had not led since its opening drive before the go-ahead touchdown; Texas led 24-20 in the third quarter. The outcome of the criminal case against Sherrone Moore has been added, and the estimate of Michigan's fines now matches published reporting. Play details and a paraphrased postgame remark that we could not verify have been removed.
