It took no time for the Arch Madness to quickly come to a screeching halt. The Manning hype train had pretty much everybody on board, with Paul Finebaum brimming with confidence. “This [Arch] is the best player we have seen from every aspect since Tim Tebow,” said a confident Finebaum. But the 7-14 loss quickly saw a change of tide. He missed badly on simple throws, threw interceptions, and appeared confused throughout. He completed  17 of 30 passes for 170 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

Heading into the 2025 season, as a top Heisman prospect, Manning’s Week 1 performance hit rock bottom, as the Manning legacy was snubbed in On3’s Week 2 College Football Heisman Poll. Now, he doesn’t even feature among the top ten prospects. Certainly, Tigers’ Garrett Nussmeier is topping the charts, followed by LaNorris Sellers and Mike Norvell’s prized Thomas Castellanos. Carson Beck, John Mateer, and Haynes King are some of the names emerging at the top.

Manning’s reaction to his performance? “Not good enough,” he admitted. “That starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win,” he said. The Horseshoe marked the attendance of NFL scouts as well. A dozen or so teams, including the Cleveland Browns, nit-picked the trenches and saw exactly what led to a CFB meltdown. A 37% off-target rate, the worst seen by a Texas QB in over a decade.

The scrutiny that has followed has done more than dimming his Heisman prospects, but also dipping his NIL valuation. As soon as Austin witnessed the concluding minutes of the fourth quarter, Manning’s NIL stock had started to dip. Following the game, his valuation dropped by $485,000. Though he still tops the highest CFB NIL charts, his dip has been the largest witnessed by any athlete in week 1.

But what was it that led to such disappointing performance? The hype, or facing Matt Patricia’s defensive beast?

Aaron Rodgers’ brother makes his Arch Manning stance clear

ESPN’s Jordan Rodgers gives his opinion on why Arch’s hype didn’t match his tapes. It was about the mechanical issues facing Ryan Day’s robust defense for the first time. Matt Patricia’s defensive schemes were impressive. “It wasn’t the pressure. It wasn’t the blitzes. He [Arch] only blitzed on four of 34 dropbacks for Arch,” he said on ESPN College Football.

Rodgers continued. “Everything was just moving a little too fast for Arch. And that’s why you saw those inaccuracies. Five under throws, three over throws, a lot of opportunities to hit big plays downfield,” he said. There were a lot of opportunities for Arch to hit big plays. But a lot of them wasted away with four failed downs and a critical goal-line stop that stalled a long drive. “His eyes were on the wrong read at times, not getting or not being patient enough with it. So, a lot left on the table,” Rodgers continued with his take.

Amidst all the whirlpool of scrutiny, former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron empathized with Steve-Sarkisian’s quarterback. “The hype is just set at such a high level to where I don’t know if the kid can ever live up to it.” But at the end of the day, there’s optimism lying ahead. What he needs is time to develop and get those mechanics into high gear. “Kid’s going to be good. He just needs to develop. He’s going to win like his uncles win between the ears,” Rodgers added.

Let’s see what week 2 brings for Longhorns and Arch Manning’s future prospects. Among all the flurry of opinions and dissection of his game films, Sarkisian is rattled the least. Still confident, still vying for an explosive season, his faith in his prized quarterback remains intact.