4 takeaways from Texas's deciding win vs. UL-Monroe

In his first game as a starting quarterback, Texas football redshirt freshman Arch Manning navigated an early turnover to help head coach Steve Sarkisian's squad get a commanding win in their final non-conference game before SEC play next week. No. 1 Texas decisively handled the previously undefeated Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at home on Sep. 21.

Texas football shows out on both sides of the ball in 51-3 win over UL-Monroe

After Texas's first offensive drive, the Longhorns controlled the game from beginning-to-end against ULM. Texas started to light up the scoreboard, scoring 21 points in the first quarter while holding ULM scoreless on a few drives on defense.

Texas's offense had some explosive plays behind Manning's big arm that saw them stretch the field against ULM's secondary. And if not for a pick-six for sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. that was called back due to a block-in-the-back penalty, Texas could've really ran up the score in short order against the Warhawks in the first half.

Texas dominated in the second half en route to another 50+ point performance while holding the opposition to under 10 points. This was a solid performance on both sides of the ball for the Longhorns to feel good about entering SEC play next week.

Here are four takeaways from Texas's decisive 51-3 win over ULM in Week 4.

Still some mistakes to clean up

Purely looking at the scoreboard for this game, it looked like it was a pretty clean victory for the Longhorns against a ULM team that had some fight throughout. But Texas had a couple of turnovers, including a Manning interception on the game's first drive.

Texas had a couple of turnovers in the first half on some miscommunications between Manning and his receiver targets.

Sarkisian's squad also had a few penalties in the first half that resulted in lost yardage for both sides of the ball. For the first time this season, Texas had over 40 penalty yards in the first half of a game.

Manning had multiple big plays that showed his toughness in response to the two interceptions, one of which wasn't really his fault as it went off the receiver's hands. He showed resilience and led Texas to an efficient day on offense and a big win over an undefeated FBS opponent.

Nonetheless, some of these miscues are areas where the Longhorns need to clean up before SEC play begins next weekend.