The Texas Longhorns were a major focal point in their game against Ohio State during the first week of the college football season. The game, a rematch of last season’s College Football Playoff Semifinals, quickly became the most highly anticipated game going into the weekend. Attention was mainly on the Longhorns, specifically on their new starting quarterback, Arch Manning. Manning, son of Cooper Manning and nephew of Eli and Peyton Manning, both notable retired NFL players, debuted with Texas against Ohio State. While Manning started in two games last season due to an ankle injury to the previous starting quarterback, Quinn Ewers, the game against Ohio State was his official debut as the starting quarterback. Since analysts and fans alike expected Texas to come out on top, the Longhorns held the #1 ranking going into the season.
Pamela Maldonado of ESPN, when picking Texas to win, wrote, “If Manning settles in quickly, this passing attack has the potential to test any defense.”
However, Arch Manning’s debut proved to be lackluster in comparison to the high expectations surrounding him. Ohio State knocked off Texas in a 14-7 win. With 30 passing attempts and just 17 completions, his 56.7% completion rate was not up to par with Manning’s idealized expectations from both fans and experts. This left many critical of the quarterback, turning the already intense pressure on Manning into intense criticism. Much of this criticism, though, is unwarranted, as fans expect Manning to live up to the peaks of his uncles’ careers while he is just beginning his own. Additionally, placing the entirety of the Texas loss on Manning’s performance ignores the offensive line’s mistakes throughout the game. Texas, in addition to a new starting quarterback, also has an almost completely new starting offensive lineup, with four of the five players being new to the Longhorns. This is an additional challenge for Manning to overcome, as this team has only practiced together for one off-season and has yet to find its rhythm.
Regarding the Ohio State game, Arch Manning stated, “I hold myself to a high standard. I’ve got to play better, got to lead more, got to get our guys to play well around me, and ultimately I wasn’t good enough.”
While Arch Manning proved himself to be a good quarterback during games last season, he is still a sophomore learning the ropes of college football, and is over-hyped going into this season. Manning’s stats from the first game, while good for college football, show that he still needs to find a rhythm with his team to win future games. While Manning averaged 3.8 yards per pass in the Ohio State game, his 2024 season average was 10.8, a difference that is easily attainable once Manning and his offense figure out how to work together. Also, with this new offensive line, the expectations placed squarely on Manning’s shoulders as the new starting quarterback to open the season by defeating the 2024 National Champions were a pure result of over-hype and far too high for Manning to achieve. Manning’s 2024 stats prove that he does have potential, scoring 24 points for the Longhorns during his two starting games, along with an impressive total of 939 passing yards. However, expecting a new quarterback to keep up with defending National Champions, even with impressive stats, is a sole result of Arch Manning’s over-hype due to his family name.
Longhorns Coach Steve Sarkisian stated regarding Manning’s performance, “There were a couple of times where we had some crossing routes where I didn’t feel like he brought his feet to where he wanted to throw the ball, which in turn forced kind of a little bit more of a sidearm delivery, which isn’t his style of throwing. Part of that is just finding that comfort level of trust with receivers in real games — not in practice, not against the scout team, but in a real game — against a good defense because the windows get small against good defenses like that.”
Arch Manning is a good quarterback, but is greatly over-hyped this season, leading to detrimental expectations and criticisms against the sophomore. As Manning and his new offense find their rhythm, fans can expect gradual improvements in both Manning and the Longhorns’ overall performance. Additionally, with upcoming games being against smaller schools, such as San Jose State University and the University of Texas at El Paso, the Longhorns will have time to build their offense up before playing other major teams in the SEC, hopefully easing some of the pressure off of Manning as a whole.