It wasn't the hottest win, but you need a 20-point win all day to open conference play. The No. 1 Texas Longhorns entered Saturday's game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with a nearly 40-point lead against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who were struggling in their first year under new head coach Jeff Lebby.

It was a slow start for the Longhorns, but things picked up in the second half as they were able to keep the Bulldogs at bay all afternoon, despite Lebby's best attempts to keep the ball away from the Texas offense.

After five straight wins to open the season, the Longhorns enter a bye week and try to recover before heading to Dallas for their annual game against Oklahoma. Head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff will be making numerous adjustments to today's game during the break week, and that is probably the best-case scenario to keep the team healthy heading into the crucial two-week period.

Let’s take a look at the observations from Texas’ first-ever SEC conference win over the Bulldogs.

Arch Manning was fantastic in his second start

This will work.

Manning followed up his solid performance from last week on Saturday with an absolutely killer performance against Mississippi State. Another full week of preparation did the young quarterback a world of good as he absolutely tore the Bulldogs to shreds with a very efficient performance.

This was Manning's play of the day for me – it's 3rd-and-9 and State throws more than they can block at a key moment in the game as Texas leads 7-6 late in the first half. Manning knows he's going to take a hit, but he still stays in the pocket and delivers an absolute dime to Deandre Moore for a touchdown. This is a big play in a big moment as the game is still close and the offense is trying to get things right.

As if the throw wasn't enough, Arch put his wheels on display once again for everyone to admire.

Texas has the best QB2 in the country and is in fantastic shape with Manning in the saddle in 2025.

Penalties and errors plagued Texas on Saturday

Oh my god, where did I even start with this section?

This was easily the sloppiest game so far this season when it comes to instances where this team shot itself in the foot and made things more difficult than they needed to be. False starts, held calls that ruined big plays, poor ball security, missed tackles and poor running passes. These are things that will ensure you get beaten by more quality opponents down the road, and that's something the coaching staff will certainly highlight during the bye week.

Eight penalties for 65 yards on the day and while they didn't cost Texas the game, they were responsible for hampering the offense at times and causing drives to stall. If Texas gets everything right, they'll likely score over 45 points again on Saturday.

Jaydon Blue… brother, brother, brother… This should be a showcase year for you. Putting the ball on the deck twice and giving the opponent short pitches is not how you reward your coaches in your expanded role. You could tell what the coaches were thinking about the fumbleitis case because we immediately saw increased play from Quintrevion Wisner and Jerrick Gibson. Speaking of Wisner: The boy runs with anger, and I like that.

I don't want to be one of those guys at the film session tomorrow. On Sunday afternoon there will be several feet on asses together.

Colin Simmons could be him

Texas could have them with Colin Simmons. We had already seen the anticipation for this clash, but on Saturday he was an absolute threat. No. 11 flew around the yard all afternoon and absolutely filled the Longhorns' stat sheet with seven total tackles, three TFLs, two sacks and a forced fumble for the true freshman from Duncanville.

The Metroplex has produced some top-notch monsters over the years – guys like Myles Garrett and Von Miller immediately come to mind. Simmons could be in the same shape as his predecessors, showing game-winning skills in five games, and he will only get better.

Speaking of Miller and Garrett, Miller had two sacks and four TFLs as a true freshman at Texas A&M, while Garrett went supernova with 14 TFLs and 11.5 sacks. Simmons is already ahead of Miller and will now try to track down Garrett.

The defense piled up sacks and negative plays

It wasn't the best game from the PK defensive unit, but one thing that can't be debated is how often the Texas defense caused havoc in the offensive backfield.

My husband Vernon Broughton had big shoes to fill this year and responded accordingly. Michael Van Buren's hat trick (strip, sack and recovery) was one of the plays of the game and brought momentum back to Texas after Blue's fumble shortly before.

The Texas defense recorded six sacks and 11 TFLs on the afternoon, even though Lebby tried to pass the football and the running ball 50 (!!!) times during the regular season.

The Texas defense needs to tighten some things up when it comes to running passes on the bye week, but they definitely made life difficult for whoever the Bulldogs put under center all afternoon.

For better or worse, Sark is always aggressive

One thing you can never blame Sark for is a lack of aggressiveness. That was never more evident than on Saturday when he decided to take points off the board and try to convert a fourth down.

I'm all for being aggressive and pushing the limits sometimes, but this particular case seemed a little too aggressive for my liking considering they already had points on the board and the offense was a little inconsistent.

Aside from being very aggressive in that moment, I also didn't like the quarterback's particular play call/read. If you were to choose this at this moment, I would have liked something with a slightly higher percentage to be chosen up there.

This might be a point of contention for some, but it's something I noticed in the game and has stuck with me so far.

5-0 this year and 1-0 in SEC play. It's time to let those bumps and bruises heal because the Sooners are on the horizon.

With the bye week on deck, you have a little longer to enjoy this SEC opener. Afterwards, pack your lunch and hard hat because it's Red River time.