Texas' top 15 plays from the first half of the 2024 season
The Texas Longhorns have completed the first half of their regular season schedule, here are some of the top plays so far.
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Now undoubtedly some plays will be missed, so comment down below if your favorite play didn’t make the cut. We can always add it to the official record. As the No. 1 team in the country there’s honestly too many to choose from, so here are the ones that were chosen in chronological order.
The first one has to be the no-look pass from Quinn Ewers to Matthew Golden. This pass was Ewers’ opening statement for a potential Heisman campaign. While the missed time due to injury may have killed that, along with his spotty return in the RRS…this throw certainly helped propel him to the top of the leader board early on.
This list would be incomplete without the insane first touchdown for Arch Manning of the season. The football world started to lose their ever-loving minds over the athleticism and quick thinking from Manning here, and who doesn’t love the superman dive from Silas Bolden?
In the interest of brevity and not having every play come from the Colorado State game, with an official apology to Jahdae Barron, only one defensive play is going to make the cut. That play: Wardell Mack‘s interception in the back of the end zone to preserve the first opening day shutout since 2004. To top it off it’s one of the better catches you will see in 2024.
The opening drive catch for Isaiah Bond in Ann Arbor should be on this list. While the Longhorns technically didn’t score on that drive…this play was an absolute tone setter for what we were going to see in the first half of 2024.
This play might have been the one that put a dagger into the Michigan team. Austin native Andrew Mukuba transferred in from Clemson and this was our first true introduction to his play as a safety. The first of many good plays from the former Tiger on the day, just now in the right shade of Orange.
While this play against UTSA has some negative context with Quinn Ewers suffering an abdominal injury on this throw, it had to be included as this is when we were introduced to the other version of Gunnar Helm waiting to be seen. That version would be none other than Air Helm.
The second, and not the last Arch Manning highlight. Him turning on the jets scampering for 67 yards was no fluke. It was this play that really set off Manning Mania. Countless national talk shows were filled with speculation that Arch should be starting over Quinn Ewers, thankfully Steve Sarkisian handled it well.
How about some more Arch Manning to Silas Bolden love? This throw was an absolute bomb to Bolden who again had to superman dive, but this time it was much more impressive. It was ruled not a catch but that wasn’t Bolden’s fault.
This will definitely be the least flashy play here, but it’s far from the least significant. Jaydon Blue scoring from the one yard line against Mississippi State was and is the first SEC score for the Texas Football.
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Not sure what the better highlight here is for Arch Manning and DeAndre Moore Jr., sure the touchdown pass and catch was nice and all…but those are come elite celebrations and dance moves.
The second run from Arch Manning in this list technically wasn’t a touchdown, but don’t tell that to Longhorn Nation. The athleticism from this dude is insane and he probably should have been credited with a TD here.
Andrew Mukuba isn’t the only Austin native making this list, Michael Taaffe made an amazing play here against OU with exceptional timing and control. Michael Hawkins Jr. had zero chance here on this play getting sacked by the Longhorn safety.
You can’t stop Air Helm, you can only hope to contain him. Helm putting Texas on the board after a slow start to the Red River gave fans the confidence that being down 0-3 was only temporary.
The absolute hustle here from Silas Bolden, this may be the play of the year so far. The run alone is worthy of making the list but the fumble and recovery saving the touchdown cements it.
Limiting the best plays at 15…the final one probably has to be the run from Quintrevion Wisner, the very next play following his fumble into the end zone. Tashard Choice and Steve Sarkisian displayed their trust in Wisner giving him another opportunity and boy did he take advantage of it. He wanted that touchdown and earned it with hard running.
Like mentioned before, undoubtedly some plays were missed. Immediately the plays that come to mind are Jahdae Barron intercepting the pass vs CSU or the Michael Taaffe destroying a UTSA player running free.
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What plays do you think should have made it?
