Arch Manning, he’s alive! Texas beats Vandy to keep CFP hopes afloat

• Texas slapped Vanderbilt and resurrected from the College Football Playoff grave.
• Arch Manning got hot to lead Texas scoring outbreak.
• Texas tortures Diego Pavia after his Louis Vuitton comment.

AUSTIN – The preseason No. 1 team emerged from witness protection.

Where had these Texas Longhorns been hiding?

This 34-31 win over No. 11 Vanderbilt came without preamble or warning, though it did come with some suspense after the Longhorns nearly gave it all away, turning a three-score lead into a three-point win.

No. 19 Texas needed overtime to survive Kentucky and Mississippi State. Its playoff hopes went on life support. Hours after the final Halloween cocktails were served to costumed revelers here in this city that insists on keeping it weird, the Longhorns popped out of the grave like The Undertaker.

That’s sort of the nature of college football nowadays, isn’t it? Yesterday’s scrubs become tomorrow’s stars. And vice versa.

Vanderbilt, the SEC’s darling story, turned into a pumpkin. Check that, Texas smashed the Vandy boys like a pumpkin.

And the guy in burnt orange named Manning finally played like someone with his surname should.

Arch, he’s alive! He’s alive!

Ten straight completions, Manning fired, throughout the first half. Out of concussion protocol, and into the best performance of his career. The stats gleamed: 328 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Arch Manning leads scoring outburst for Texas football

Smokey the Cannon blasted through a pile of gunpowder keeping up with all the Texas scores.

Texas receivers sprinted wild and free through yawning holes in Vanderbilt’s defense. With Manning looking as settled as he has all season, the completions piled up. The lads in gold helmets kept trying to tackle thin air while Longhorns ran past them. Texas’ defensive front terrorized the Tasmanian Devil, otherwise known as Diego Pavia.

Pavia, before kickoff, compared Texas to Louis Vuitton and described Vanderbilt as a product from an “underground yard sale.” I would think he meant that as a compliment to Vanderbilt’s grit and pluck, but, after the way the Commodores just played, it’s hard not to see them as a discounted imitation of a playoff team.

Credit Pavia for single-handedly turning a rout into a dramatic finish. He rallied Vanderbilt with three fourth-quarter scores.

Tiers are forming within the nation’s deepest conference. On the SEC’s top shelf are Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. They’ve still got some lifting left for playoff qualification, but they’re in good shape.

On a lower tier reside Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri, teams that present more as pretenders than contenders but have not succumbed to a knockout punch.

I’m still trying to figure out onto which tier Texas fits. The Longhorns possess the talent to claim a spot on the top tier. Rarely, though, have they played to that level. Two losses in the first half of the season eroded their margin for error. Oh, and this marks just the first of three November games for Texas against top-15 opponents.

That’s either the recipe for a resume revival or a burial.

Texas punches Vanderbilt in the mouth early, repeatedly

A sleepy, late-arriving crowd was still filling the seats when Ryan Wingo went 75 yards into the end zone on the first play from scrimmage, a neatly designed swing pass that beautifully countered a Vanderbilt blitz.

Manning roared in delight of the score and met up with offensive lineman Conner Robertson for a chest bump.

Offense came so easily to Texas that Quintrevion Wisner somersaulted into the end zone.

And how did Texas glide so smoothly? Consider this telling stat: Vanderbilt broke through just once for a tackle for loss. Texas had 10 TFLs. Vanderbilt’s first drive ended when Colin Simmons came roaring off the edge, sacked Pavia, stripped the football and grabbed it with his left paw.

This was how it was supposed to look, after Texas spent tens of millions on for a team that became preseason darlings.

The Longhorns never played so good as when the spotlight finally left this team. And the fans of the preseason No. 1 team, saddled with two losses but suddenly alert, chanted ‘Overrated! Overrated!’ — about Vanderbilt — in the fourth quarter. Some kind of college football season we’re having. Don’t shovel the dirt on Texas just yet.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.