Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian believes his quarterback, Arch Manning, is hitting a rough patch for the first time in not only his football career, but his life, right now as the team looks ahead to its final non-conference matchup of the season with the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Saturday.
Manning has looked good, but nowhere close to the transformational talent he was billed as when he was the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 class.
He fell short of 200 passing yards against a stellar Ohio State Buckeyes defense that’s given up 16 points through three games in the Longhorns’ 14-7 Week 1 loss at the “Shoe” in Columbus.
He rebounded with 295 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-7 beatdown of the San Jose State Spartans, but his interception against a Group of Five defense was unforgivable for some.
Then, Manning had many questioning if he was injured during the UTEP Miners in Week 3. The New Orleans native had more incompletions (14) than completions (11), 114 passing yards, and threw yet another interception.
Texas is still in good shape for a College Football Playoff run, and Manning may well sleepwalk through another G5 matchup against Sam Houston State.
The last person worried about anything yet is Sark.
Sarkisian believes the first real adversity Manning will ever face should be conquered in due time, and produce a better on-field product under center on the other side of that mountain.
“Here's a guy who's had an awesome life, the way he's grown up, the people he's been surrounded by. I think you learn a lot about yourself through adversity and overcoming adversity. ... When he gets on the other side of it, I think all of this is going to serve well not only for him, but for us as a team,” Sarkisian said Monday via the Associated Press.
Arch sounded like he wasn’t even facing adversity with his optimism.
“I know the type of player that I am. I know I'm going to play better and we're going to be better as an offense,” Manning said.
He wasn’t going to say anything differently.
Sarkisian’s message was ultimately hopeful, but he challenged his quarterback a bit to figure out what it takes to avoid any more losses this year to punch their third straight CFP appearance.