Hey Will Leitch, USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer says you don’t know ball. Not college football, anyway.
Toppmeyer ripped the author of the now-infamous Arch Manning article for The Athletic that referred to Manning as “college football’s first flop,” questioning if Leitch would even be watching the sport on Saturday instead of the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
Toppmeyer also predicted John Mateer’s return from injury would not be enough for the Oklahoma Sooners to take down Manning’s Texas Longhorns at the Red River Rivalry game in Dallas.
“How's this for bold? John Mateer will play in the Red River Shootout, but Texas gets off the mat and prevails. In the aftermath, The Athletic will declare Arch Manning the greatest quarterback of all time, one week after positioning Manning as the first flop in college football history. Will Leitch will author The Athletic's essay, while watching a baseball game and wondering about this thing called college football,” Toppmeyer wrote.
Certainly, there have been many flops in college football. This season alone, Drew Allar has been one for the Penn State Nittany Lions, Cade Klubnik has been one for the Clemson Tigers, and DJ Lagway has been one for the Florida Gators. And that’s just at one position.
Manning had more hype than all of them, fewer reps, and was being hard-launched as the face of Texas football this season after spurts last year. Still, Texas’ two losses are to the No. 1 team in the country and a highly-rated Gators defense that, if Lagway had been anywhere close to living up to his potential, would be leading Florida to a top ranking.
Manning hasn’t been a “flop” just yet. Sure, he can become one and make Leitch look like a soothsayer.
But as of now, that opinion has the chance to age disastrously. It already has, with shots flying from competing publications.