Florida Beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 in Austin as Myles Graham Strip-Sacks Arch Manning Late

AUSTIN, TEXAS · SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

Florida walked into Austin, fell behind 17-3, and then scored 24 straight points to beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 on Saturday, a result reported as final by Sportradar and covered live by NBC Sports, theScore, USA Today and the Gainesville Sun. For Texas, now 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, this was a second straight defeat after last week's loss to Oklahoma — and a long way, in every sense, from the month the Longhorns spent at No. 1 earlier this season. For Florida, now 5-2 and 3-2 in the SEC, it snapped a two-game losing streak in the most unlikely circumstances imaginable: with a backup quarterback making his first career start, on the road, against a top-ten team that had the game in its hands.

Start with how comfortable Texas looked. The Longhorns led 17-3 in the second quarter, the highlight a 63-yard punt-return touchdown by Ryan Niblett that had the home crowd sensing a routine afternoon. That is the version of this game Texas fans will replay in their heads all week, because almost everything after it belonged to Florida. As theScore put it in its account of the comeback, the Gators ripped off 24 straight points to flip the game completely — from 17-3 down to 27-17 up — and they did it behind a quarterback who was not supposed to be playing at all.

A first start to remember

Tramell Jones Jr. is a redshirt freshman. He started because Florida's starter, Aaron Philo, missed the game with a shoulder injury, according to USA Today's reporting. First career starts in Austin are supposed to end one way. Jones finished 22 of 35 for 155 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers — not spectacular numbers, and that is precisely the point. He protected the ball, he took what the game gave him, and when Florida needed a play late to finish the job, he made it. His touchdown passes both went to tight end Lakota Dippre: a 7-yarder before halftime and an 8-yarder in the third quarter, as reported in the Gainesville Sun and USA Today live coverage. In a game defined by a comeback, the steadiest hand on the field belonged to the least experienced quarterback in it.

The score that pushed Florida's lead to ten came on the ground. Jadan Baugh's 11-yard touchdown run made it 27-17 with 6:22 left, and at that point the comeback was no longer a rally — it was a result waiting for a clock to confirm it. Texas had been held scoreless through the heart of the game while Florida scored those 24 straight points, and Arch Manning, as NBC Sports and theScore both noted, had been kept under 100 passing yards until deep in the fourth quarter. His final line — 14 of 20 for 173 yards and one touchdown — tells you how much of his afternoon arrived in a desperate final few minutes, and how little of it arrived before then.

Manning rallies — and then the strip-sack

And yet. Manning very nearly dragged Texas out of it. Facing fourth-and-6, he hit Emmett Mosley V for a 62-yard strike that kept the Longhorns alive, then found Cam Coleman for a 9-yard touchdown to cut it to 27-24. Suddenly Austin believed again, and Florida, with under two minutes left, needed one stop to survive. They got the play of the game. Linebacker Myles Graham strip-sacked Manning, and Kanye Clark recovered the fumble at the Texas 39, as reported by theScore, ESPN and Gators Wire. One play, ball out, season-shaping win preserved. Jones then kept the ball himself on a zone read for the first down that iced it — the freshman who was not supposed to start finishing the game with the ball in his hands, which felt exactly right.

The personal footnotes are brutal for Manning, and the outlets covering the game did not miss them. As theScore noted, this was his first home defeat as a starter, and he falls to 0-2 against Florida. NBC Sports added the family history nobody in that household will enjoy: his uncle Peyton Manning went 0-3 against Florida while at Tennessee. Some opponents are just a problem for a family, apparently, across generations and decades.

What it means for Texas — and for Florida

USA Today's column on the result did not soften the consequences: Texas is, in its assessment, essentially eliminated from the SEC title game, and its playoff hopes now hang on running the table the rest of the way. That is a staggering sentence to write about a team that spent a month at No. 1 this season, but two straight losses — Oklahoma last week, Florida at home this week — leave very little room for any other reading. The Longhorns led this game 17-3. Contenders close those games. Texas did not, and the margin for error is now gone entirely.

For Florida, the read is the mirror image. A two-game losing streak snapped, a top-ten road win, and a redshirt freshman quarterback who went into Austin and did not turn the ball over once. Whatever comes next for the Gators, they have a win that changes how the rest of their season feels — and a backup quarterback story their fans will be telling for a while. For more on the playoff picture this result scrambles, see our coverage of the College Football Playoff expansion talks, and follow the rest of the day on our Sports front.