KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 1 Texas beat No. 14 Tennessee 20-17 on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. It was the Longhorns’ first game in Knoxville. Texas leads the series 3-1. The teams had not met since the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1969.
Texas was No. 1 in the AP poll and the coaches poll. Tennessee was No. 14 in the AP poll and No. 13 in the coaches poll. Texas led 10-3 at halftime, was tied at 10 in the third quarter, and won 20-17.
Scoring
Raleek Brown ran 9 yards for a touchdown with 10:58 left in the first quarter. The drive covered 75 yards in seven plays. Gianni Spetic kicked the extra point, and Texas led 7-0. Tennessee’s C. Ranvier kicked a 33-yard field goal after a nine-play, 60-yard drive, and it was 7-3.
Spetic kicked a 22-yard field goal with 14:29 left in the second quarter, finishing a 10-play, 62-yard drive. Texas led 10-3 at the half.
Qua Moss returned a punt 57 yards for a Tennessee touchdown with 11:14 left in the third quarter. Ranvier’s extra point tied the game at 10. Spetic answered with a 44-yard field goal on a six-play, 48-yard drive, and Texas led 13-10.
Brown scored again with 5:41 left in the fourth quarter, a 4-yard run on an eight-play, 60-yard drive. Spetic’s kick made it 20-10. Faizon Brandon then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Matthews with 1:22 left. The drive was 10 plays and 80 yards. Ranvier’s extra point made the final score 20-17.
Texas scored on each of its three red-zone possessions. Brown finished with 67 rushing yards and both Texas touchdowns on 17 carries. The Texas notes called it the third time this season the Longhorns have scored a touchdown on the opening drive, and each of those scores came in the first five minutes. It was only the second time in eight SEC road games that Texas scored a touchdown on its first drive. The other was at Mississippi State on Oct. 25, 2025.
Manning, Wingo, and the defense
Arch Manning completed 14 of 19 passes for 201 yards, a 74 percent completion rate. He opened the game 6-for-6, the second time he has done that in his career and the first since Arkansas in 2025, according to the Texas notes. Ryan Wingo led the Longhorns with six catches for 74 yards.
Texas held Tennessee to 88 yards of total offense in the first half. The notes said that matched the 88 yards Texas allowed in the first half against No. 10 Michigan on Sept. 7, 2024, and that Tennessee’s full-game total was its fewest since Dec. 19, 2020.
Colin Simmons had 5.0 sacks, tying the Texas single-game record. The notes said he is the first FBS player in the last 20 seasons to record 5.0 sacks against a ranked team. Texas finished with 10 sacks, the second-most in a game in program history, behind 15 against Texas Tech on Oct. 31, 1981. Simmons has a sack in eight of his last nine games and 14.5 career sacks against Top 25 teams. Rasheem Biles led Texas with 13 tackles, seven of them solo, plus a sack and two tackles for loss.
The captains were Manning, Trevor Goosby, Simmons, and Jelani McDonald. Texas has won seven in a row, dating to last season, and this was its second win against an AP Top 25 team in four games. The notes said Texas is 14-3 in SEC games over three seasons and has won 19 of its last 22 conference games.
Kicking
Spetic is 7-for-7 on field goals this season, including 2-for-2 from 20 to 29 yards and 2-for-2 from 40 to 49. He is 53-of-69 on field goals in his career. Punter Mac Chiumento had seven punts for 323 yards, a 46.1-yard average, with three of at least 50 yards, a long of 54, and two inside the 20. Ryan Niblett returned four punts for 57 yards and one kickoff for 21 yards.
Source: Texas game notes from Neyland Stadium, Sept. 26, 2026.
