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, and at one point in the first half traded five consecutive scoring drives. Michigan freshman Bryce Underwood put the Wolverines ahead 27-24 early in the fourth quarter with a five-yard run in which he dove for the pylon.
Manning answered on the next possession. He scrambled 15 yards for a first down on fourth-and-2, then dropped a 30-yard touchdown pass into the hands of Kaliq Lockett to make it 31-27 — the first Texas lead since a field goal on the opening drive. Ty'Anthony Smith intercepted Underwood on the next series, and Manning ended it with a 60-yard touchdown run up the middle for 38-27.
He was the first player to rush for 155 or more yards in a Citrus Bowl since Marcus Allen. Asked about the family history at the venue — his uncle Peyton played there twice for Tennessee, once throwing for 408 yards — Manning said he was not planning to come back.
Texas played it short-handed
Steve Sarkisian was without nine starters, lost either to injury or the transfer portal. Christian Carter and Kaliq Lockett delivered the big plays that covered for the absences. 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. Sherrone Moore had been fired three weeks earlier over an extramarital relationship with a staff member, and was arrested and charged with three crimes later the same day in connection with an alleged break-in at the woman's home. Those charges are allegations, and we have not seen reporting on their resolution.
The program was also serving NCAA probation stemming from the sign-stealing and recruiting case, with the school projecting roughly $30 million in fines and related losses. 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 reason this game was scheduled into a New Year's Eve window: Manning and Underwood, both former top overall prospects, at very different stages. Manning was in his third year in the program and his second as a starter. Underwood was a true freshman.
Underwood ran for 77 yards and threw three interceptions, two of them in the decisive stretch. Poggi defended him afterward, pointing out that a true freshman starting in the Big Ten against a preseason No. 1 SEC team had played a strong game and made a few poor decisions late.
That framing looks reasonable in hindsight. 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.
