Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has not faced a murderer’s row of opponents during the 2025 season. While a 14-7 Week 1 loss against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the “Shoe” may prove to be the toughest test anyone faces all year, no one is kidding themselves about the San Jose State Spartans, UTEP Miners, and Sam Houston State Bearkats being adequate tests for the former Heisman hopeful.
On Saturday in “the Swamp,” Manning will take on a Florida Gators defense that’s better than advertised. Ron Roberts’ unit, as The Athletic’s Dan Santaromita writes, has been the bright spot during UF’s brutal 1-3 start.
Florida has lost three straight to the USF Bulls, LSU Tigers, and Miami Hurricanes after a tune-up in Week 1 against the LIU Sharks.
“Florida has been staring at 1-5 since the home loss to South Florida more than three weeks ago. The 1-3 Gators are an underdog against Texas and have a trip to No. 6 Texas A&M up next,” Santaromita wrote.
“Florida’s defense has not been the problem, allowing 18 points to USF, 20 to LSU and 26 to Miami. DJ Lagway only passed for 61 yards against Miami. Florida may not win, but the Gators’ defense will be a quality test for Texas quarterback Arch Manning. It will likely be the best defense Manning has seen since Ohio State in the season opener, which did not go well.”
Given that the Gators’ backs are against the wall, and head coach Billy Napier has nothing to lose with most predicting his imminent firing, Florida may be an interesting underdog this weekend. Manning has alternated good games and duds, and he’s coming off his best showing to date against Sam Houston State.
Then again, the dysfunction at UF has manifested in the ugliest of ways this season. Napier might’ve already lost the locker room. Players who aren’t fighting for their coach don’t tend to magically dominate the lines of scrimmage against highly-rated groups like the Longhorns in both trenches.
Texas-Florida is a battle of two teams that have disappointed so far, but the level of disappointment varies wildly between the pair. The former couldn’t be the No. 1 team kicking off their national championship defense at home. The latter couldn’t be an in-state Group of 5 school in front of 88,000-plus of their own fans.