Texas erased 20 in the fourth to bury Ohio State.

Texas 24, Ohio State 23. Down 20 with 15 minutes left. It should have been over. It was not over.

Arch Manning went 16-of-23 for 135 yards and a touchdown in the second half. Not spectacular. Not eye-popping. Just calm. He hit Emaree Winston on a fourth down conversion in the third that would have ended the game for a lot of quarterbacks. He kept the ball moving. He did the thing you have to do to win a comeback: he did not blink.

Hollywood Smothers punched it in with 25 seconds left to tie it at 23. Gianni Spetic drilled the game-winner. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium had 105,044 fans in it and every single one of them just watched their team become the first team in 22 seasons to erase a 20-point hole against an AP No. 1.

You either want it or you don't. Texas wanted it.

This is now the second-largest fourth quarter comeback in Texas history. The last time they did this was November 3, 2007, against Oklahoma State. That is a program-defining stat line. First team in a generation to steal one from the top-ranked team in the country when the top-ranked team was up three scores in the fourth. That does not happen. It just did.

Ohio State is in trouble. Ryan Day now has to answer a locker room question that has been sitting on his desk for years. When you are up 20 in the fourth on the road you finish. You do not do what they did in the last 15 minutes. And you certainly do not do it against a team quarterbacked by a Manning. This one is going to sit on his resume for a while.

Meanwhile Arch Manning did not win the game with a signature throw. He won it with a signature quarter. That is how you know he is the real thing. The great ones stop being great in the box score and start being great in the moment. He was in the moment.

The polls will move Monday. Texas is going to be the new No. 1 and Ohio State is going to slide out of the top five. But the real headline is not the ranking. The real headline is that Texas just told the country they can look you in the face when they are on the mat and get up. That travels.

What this means

Texas is the new No. 1 and they earned it. The last time Texas was ranked No. 1 was in the Colt McCoy era. That is a generation of Longhorn football that has not gotten to feel this feeling. There will be a lot of orange in a lot of Big 12 stadiums this fall.

Arch Manning is now a Heisman candidate the country has to take seriously. Not because of the stat line, but because of the moment. Great quarterbacks stop being great in the box score and start being great in the fourth quarter. Manning was in the moment. That is the difference between being a top-five recruit and being a top-five quarterback in the country. He crossed that bridge Saturday night.

Ohio State has real problems. This is now two straight years the Buckeyes have blown a fourth-quarter lead against a signature opponent. Ryan Day has questions that do not go away with a Rose Bowl invite. The Buckeye fan base is going to be uncomfortable for a long time.

What's next

Texas has to survive the Big 12 schedule and then win their way through the playoff. That is a real ask. The Big 12 is deeper than people think. There are three or four teams in that conference capable of hanging with Texas. Steve Sarkisian's job now is to keep this team from believing their own press clippings.

Ohio State cannot free-fall. Ryan Day has to reset the locker room this week. His schedule the rest of the way is manageable. But the first time they lose another one, the phone in Columbus is going to start ringing and the boosters are going to start whispering. That is not paranoia. That is how it works.