Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns finally got a much-needed win on Saturday night, holding off No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 to snap a two-game losing streak. While it was a big win for the team in what was essentially a must-win game for their College Football Playoff hopes, it came with a price.
Texas will now reportedly be without star left tackle Trevor Goosby for the rest of the season after he suffered a knee injury in the win. That means Manning, who was under plenty of pressure before the game, just lost the player responsible for protecting his blind side.
Goosby was carted off the field in the first half and was later spotted on the sideline on crutches. After the game, Sarkisian said that neither Goosby's injury nor wide receiver Cam Coleman's shoulder injury "looked very good," via Yahoo Sports .
On Sunday, the news on Goosby was confirmed to be as bad as feared.
"Sources: Texas star left tackle Trevor Goosby will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury against Ole Miss on Saturday," wrote ESPN's Pete Thamel . "Goosby is the country's top NFL prospect at left tackle, as ESPN's Field Yates ranked him the No. 8 pick in his most recent mock draft."
Goosby returned to Texas for his senior season and was a preseason first-team All-American.
Manning entered the season as a Heisman Trophy favorite, but back-to-back 27-24 losses to Oklahoma and Florida had him on the verge of getting benched, especially after he had two costly turnovers late in each of those games.
After the loss to Florida, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian did not rule out benching Manning, and Texas reportedly started to prepare for a potential quarterback change last week, and Sarkisian warned Manning that he would make a change unless he improved.
Manning answered with three total touchdowns against Ole Miss. However, the offense did slow down significantly after Goosby's injury as Manning also had three turnovers, including a fumble on Texas' first possession of the second half that came under pressure from the side of the line that Goosby usually protects.
Even before the injury, Texas was already shorthanded, playing without pass rusher Colin Simmons and running back Hollywood Smothers. Things only got more difficult when Goosby and star wide receiver Coleman left the game with injuries. But Texas won the game anyway.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't say, this is the ultimate team sport," Sarkisian said after the game, via On3 . "We played without Colin Simmons. We played without Hollywood Smothers.
"We essentially played the entire game without Trevor Goosby, and the majority of the game without Cam Coleman, and we played the number seven ranked team in the country and won by a touchdown."
While Texas has already proven that they can win high-level games without these players, the job just got a lot more difficult for Manning and the Longhorns.
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