There's no point sugarcoating it. Arch Manning mostly stunk. It's easy to overreact to one game. Plenty of QBs have shaken off a rough outing and gone on to greatness. But few will soon forget him laying an egg in the first meaningful start of his career.
Did Peyton ever have a game like this at Tennessee?
Lots of hype due to his last name but when a player is appearing on commercials during the telecast, that comes with sky high expectations. Don’t see any NFL team tanking to get Arch Manning.
Agree, but I think the ultra conservative play calling played a factor. Look how he did when they finally opened it up a little. No excuse on not being able to score inside the 2 twice especially the first time with a horrible play call
You guys over hyped the kid. He’s inexperienced and played Ohio State on the road against a very good defense.
Not his first college start, so the big game pressure should not get to him. Huge loss, Texas does not want to have to win a cold playoff game up North in December.
Parched Manning
He looked like everyone said he would… with minutes left in the 4th. I guess that counts as flashes, but mostly uninspiring.
Maybe anointing a kid who wasn’t even the top player in his HS class and hadn’t done anything of consequence at the college level was a bit premature.
So much pressure
The other QB threw 1td
Meanwhile, plenty of people in Louisiana knew he was over hyped.
So this kid has his first start against that defense with 4-5 new starters on the O line and wasn’t great? Got it, bunch of jealous clowns who are judging a kid off one start, y’all are the worst.
Questionable first-half Texas play calls inside the Ohio State 5-yard line, Manning into that monsterous Buckeye wall. Wonder, too, how much NIL money on field. Too many references to portal transfers in starting lineups.
He'll be better than he showed in this game but his mechanics were off on a number of throws and he missed a lot of open receivers, especially in that second half. He's still got a lot of upside but maybe not the slam-dunk superstar everyone hyped him up to be in the offseason.
His receivers certainly didn't help him much either
Full column from @slmandel.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/658...
OSU fan here. Arch is a first year starter. Not many teams come to Columbus and win. Give the kid a break.
Don’t forget, he’s currently the highest paid college player in NIL money. If you are the highest paid in anything, the expectations are gonna be high
It, it’s a harsh take on Arch Manning’s first big game as a quarterback. He struggled badly, and while one bad performance isn’t the end—many greats bounce back—this flop in a key moment will stick in fans’ minds for a while.
The Johnson and Klatt drooling made mute the best audio option.
He’s gonna have to learn to be better from the pocket. He’s a good athlete, but not an elite one. When they go up against top level defenses with NFL talent, he’s not going to be as effective running.
He’s just a kid. Lay off!
