Arch Manning Forced to Rely on Family as Steve Sarkisian Brings His Flaws to Light

Arch Manning carried the hype on his shoulder, and now that hype might turn against him. The pressure to perform is immense. And after that opening loss against Ohio State (14-7), it has multiplied manifold. Texas Longhorns’ only score came in the 4th quarter after a tough game where they couldn’t break through the Buckeyes’ defense in the first three quarters, failing to capitalize on red zone chances and critical late downs. The Texas QB1 was at the center of the underwhelming offensive performance. And when things go this bad, family is the only thing you can rely on.

After the game, Manning didn’t run from the spotlight. He explained what grounded him in the aftermath of his rough debut. The sophomore QB said he had lunch with his parents and dinner with his brother on Sunday. “It was good to be around them, trying to get my mind off things.” When asked what it means to have his brother nearby on campus during this stretch, Manning didn’t hesitate: “Helps a lot… when things are good, when things are bad, he’s there for me, it’s a blessing.” A family lifeline in the middle of Austin’s noise.

Yet as much as family provides comfort, Texas HC Steve Sarkisian’s bluntness brought a different kind of weight. The head coach was direct in pointing out flaws. “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 sidearm delivery, which isn’t his style of throwing,” said Coach Sark. Mechanics are not just details at this level—they’re the line between a third-down completion and a drive-killer. The HC was essentially calling out the footwork breakdowns that rippled through Texas’ stalled attack.

The film confirmed every word. On the opening play, Arch Manning delivered an unnecessarily violent throw on a simple play-action rollout to DeAndre Moore Jr. SI analysts pegged it as the QB “doing too much.” Later in the game, he eyed an inside comeback route but threw it late, missing a wide-open receiver. The issue wasn’t arm strength—Manning has plenty—but comfort and trust in timing. He looked like a quarterback trying to win the game on every throw instead of playing within the rhythm of Sark’s scheme. That misalignment was the theme: poor sync with receivers, hesitancy in progressions, and passes that felt forced.

The clearest example came in the red zone. On a third down, Manning rifled a ball into Ryan Wingo’s lower half on what should’ve been a manageable scoring opportunity. Ohio State’s defense deserves credit—it’s elite for a reason—but the play also revealed Manning’s nerves in critical spots. Sarkisian doubled down in his breakdown: “I think it all started when we threw crossers. We don’t look for the crosser. We read the defenders, trusting that the crosser is going to come to the window he’s supposed to be. I felt like he looked back for the crosser.” Translation: Manning isn’t yet seeing the field the way his coach demands. That inexperience showed in his staggering 37% off-target rate—the worst for a Texas QB in a decade.

This was a humbling reality check for the No. 1 Texas has pinned its future on. Manning’s performance was uneven, his trust in receivers low, and his rhythm broken against a defense that thrives on disruption. But there’s no time for sulking. The bounce-back chance comes Saturday against San Jose State in front of the home crowd at Darrell K Royal.

Arch Manning’s mechanics under the microscope—but the fix is within reach

Through all of this mechanical letdown, there’s at least a flicker of good news. There are two things worth holding onto. First, we’ve seen the mechanics be right. This isn’t uncharted territory for Arch Manning—he’s shown flashes of what he’s capable of in last season’s limited action. Second, his nerves on Saturday didn’t stem from being blind to coverages or missing reads. Instead, the mistakes came from panicked decision-making, not from an inability to understand what the defense was showing him. That matters.

It means Manning’s issue is more about calming the storm in his head than rewriting his entire throwing motion. He rushed throws, shortened his base, and let his arm do the work instead of his legs. The result was inconsistency. But inconsistency can be corrected with rhythm reps and confidence.

And that’s the good news for Texas. Manning has a small window of time against weaker opponents before SEC play cranks up. The training wheels are still on, and the staff knows it. As he put it himself, “I’ve got to play better to start. I’ve got to start faster, get completions, get it to my guys in space. And I didn’t do that well enough on Saturday.” Honest. Direct.