Occasionally, a game leads people to question senior quarterback Arch Manning and his inconsistencies at the center of Texas’ offense.
Many people will blame him for the loss against Oklahoma Saturday afternoon.
And with valid reasoning, too: he threw two devastating interceptions in the fourth quarter, one that ended in a pick-six and an Oklahoma lead, the other that set up the Sooners’ walk-off field goal.
Now Texas sits 4–1 ahead of a lengthy stretch of games, and Manning and the offense have a lot more questions surrounding them than answers.
Make no mistake: Manning has shown flashes of being the quarterback that the program needs him to be. He can scramble, he’s got a good arm and is able to capitalize on opportunities downfield. He made a couple explosive shots against the Sooners and played maybe his best 10 minutes of football in the fourth quarter against Ohio State.
The struggle has been turning those moments into sustained production through 60 minutes. Cracks in the offense began to show all the way back in week one and are catching up to the Longhorns.
Manning was expected to reach another level of growth and maturity with it being his second year as a starter, especially because the program has spared no expense in putting elite weapons around him.
Any Texas quarterback is going to be held to an extremely high standard and is bound to be scrutinized week after week, and the name on his back only adds to that pressure. It was not long ago that fans were calling for former Longhorn Quinn Ewers to be benched for Manning.
“I think if you took the name off the back of (Manning’s) jersey and you said, ‘Here’s Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas, and here’s a guy who’s beaten four top-10-ranked teams in his last 13 starts,’ we’d be praising the guy,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “But the expectations are high for him. But he understands that the expectations are high for all of us, so we got to put our nose back to the grind and get back to work.”
Regardless of the pressure, things are not clicking. Manning has taken unnecessary sacks, missed routine throws and turned the ball over in critical moments. Because he stalls in the pocket and holds the ball too long, he makes panic throws under pressure from the pass rush. He also needs improvement in reading the field.
Through five games, Manning has thrown for 1,122 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. He sits 48th nationally in completion percentage at 63%.
Texas’ offensive woes can’t be blamed entirely on Manning. Sarkisian’s play calling is clearly not conducive to Manning’s strengths and is not making needed adjustments. The offensive line needs better pass protection, and the run game hasn’t been as efficient.
But no one can deny that he’s produced a lot of uneven performances that have added to Texas’s struggle. Ultimately, the coaches call the plays and the players execute them. Manning has to trust himself and turn the page quickly. At some point, it stops being about his potential and becomes about reality.
“It’s not fun when (adversity is) happening, but there’s only one way you can respond,” Manning said. “You can let it linger and let it affect the next week, or you can bounce back. So we got one choice.”
