The Longhorns are getting better in key areas from a team that was one play away from playing for a national championship.

The now-No. 1 Texas Longhorns have officially locked in back-to-back 3-0 starts, the first time since the 2011 and 2012 seasons. A year ago Texas got to 5-0 before a frustrating loss to the Oklahoma Sooners; in 2012 they reached 4-0 before a 48-45 loss at the hands of the Geno Smith/Tavon Austin West Virginia Mountaineers.

The difference from 2012 is that this year’s Texas team has paired an elite offense with a suffocating defense, regardless of who is on the field. Texas’s average margin of victory over three games was 36.67 points, with just 19 points given up — the lowest total through three games since the 1983 season.

UTSA third downs: 2-17 (11.76%)

Texas was suffocating for UTSA on all but one drive in the game, regularly forcing the Roadrunners off the field before their offense could even find its stride. The Longhorns forced the Roadrunners to go three-and-out six times in the game, not to mention the two fourth-down stops and a third-down interception late in the game. One of those fourth-down stops came on another example of Texas playing complementary football, with a four-play stonewalling of UTSA coming after Quinn Ewers threw an interception in the first quarter.

UTSA faced a distance to gain of five yards or more on 12 of their attempts, nine of which were nine yards or more to go. They managed to gain just 2.8 yards per third down attempt against an average of 8.6 yards to go. Even their two conversions are up for interpretation, as one of their third-down conversions came on the game’s final play as time expired.

The 11.76 conversion rate is the third-best outing for a Pete Kwiatkowski defense in Austin, behind last year’s 0-for-8 performance against the Kansas Jayhawks and the season finale of the 2021 season when they held Kansas State to 1-for-9. That result moves Texas to a 23.26% conversion rate on the year, compared to 31.7 percent from last year.

Texas: Red-zone conversion 4-5 (four TDs)

One of last season’s biggest problems has turned into one of Texas’ biggest strengths early in the season, as the Longhorns lead the country in red-zone touchdowns with 14 on the year. A year ago, Texas didn’t manage 14 red-zone touchdowns until the seventh game against Houston, a stretch that included the abysmal performance against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Texas currently sits with the fourth-best conversion percentage in the country, but No. 31 thanks to a 28-way tie at 100 percent in the young season. The difference between Texas and those in front of them is how threatening the offense has been thus far — Texas has more red-zone touchdowns than 24 of the 28 schools ahead of them have red-zone attempts.

Arch Manning: 9-12, 223 yards, four TDs; three car, 53 yards, TD

You can’t discuss this game without discussing the dynamic performance of redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning in his first meaningful time on the field. On his first play replacing Quinn Ewers, Manning threw a 19-yard touchdown to DeAndre Moore to give Texas a three-touchdown lead and didn’t look back. His next drive ended after two plays when he kept the ball and scampered 67 yards for a touchdown, topping 20 mph on the field to steal momentum back from UTSA. That marked the longest touchdown run by a Texas quarterback since Vince Young at Oklahoma State in 2005.

The Longhorns capped their first two drives of the second half with a pair of long touchdowns and then finished off the offense’s scoring day on the fourth play of the fourth quarter, ending Manning’s day in rarified air for a Texas quarterback.

Manning finished his day with the highest number of total touchdowns by a freshman quarterback since Colt McCoy turned in six in 2006. He finished the day as the only Texas quarterback in school history with a 75-yard touchdown pass and a 65-yard rushing TD in the same game. Before Saturday, McCoy and Young were the only two others in school history to record both in a single season.

With Ewers reportedly week-to-week with an abdominal strain, it’s likely we get at least one more game with Manning at the helm of the offense. If Saturday’s game and other results around the country were any indication, Texas will be fine with Manning at the helm as they welcome ULM to town.