Arch Manning has spent three years being measured against a famous last name, and after Texas lost 27-24 to Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, that measuring got louder. Tate Sandell kicked a 47-yard field goal on the final play, handing the No. 1 Longhorns their first loss of the season. But Manning’s two costly interceptions became the main topic on ESPN’s First Take.
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“He [Arch] was trying to escape pressure and extend the plays, and instead of throwing it away, he threw a pick-six,” Smith said bluntly during a conversation with Paul Finebaum. “That was an awful, awful play, awful throw.”
Smith was talking about the first interception. Oklahoma safety Peyton Bowen picked off Manning and ran it back 42 yards for a touchdown. That put the Sooners up 24-17 in the fourth quarter, and Texas, which came in unbeaten, suddenly had a problem.
Manning bounced back with a touchdown drive that tied it at 24-24. But his second interception hurt even more. With 19 seconds left, Oklahoma’s Courtland Guillory caught his pass, and the Sooners took over at their own 39-yard line.
Smith also called out that late throw. In his view, Manning could have just thrown the ball away instead of putting it up where it could be picked off.
“And we’re looking at Arch Manning right now, and there’s this insatiable appetite, it seems, to just look at him and say, ‘Hey, you know what? He’s a Manning, so guess what? He has to be number one overall,’” Smith added.
Smith acknowledged the accomplishments of Manning’s uncles, Peyton and Eli, but argued that their reputations should not automatically determine how Arch is evaluated. While Peyton established himself among the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks, Smith noted that Eli’s career also included significant struggles with interceptions.
The Texas quarterback showed both sides of that argument against Oklahoma, throwing for 260 yards and three touchdowns while also committing two costly interceptions.
On the same show, analyst Paul Finebaum had offered an even harsher assessment of Manning’s performance before Smith weighed in.
“Arch’s performance was simply inexcusable. For someone who has gone through what he has gone through and gotten the praise, and gotten everything that he has gotten, that was just a disgraceful performance,” Finebaum said. “He just threw the game away two different times.”
However, Finebaum also acknowledged that Manning can look exceptional when he is playing well, but was also concerned about his inconsistency.
“When he is good… he’s unbelievable,” Finebaum said. “But when he is bad, he is pedestrian.”
Finebaum also questioned how Manning’s uneven performances could affect his NFL prospects, raising the possibility of whether he should enter the draft or continue developing in college.
For Smith, the issue extends beyond one disappointing afternoon as he argued that some quarterbacks are being evaluated more favorably because of their reputations rather than their performance, but even he reinstated Finebaum’s point about Manning’s inconsistency.
“And so when we’re looking at Arch Manning, we see two sides of the coin,” said Smith. “We see somebody that looks elite one minute and, to use Paul’s words, because we want to be kind here, pedestrian another minute. There are times that he looks all-world. There are other times where he looks like, you know what, he doesn’t even belong.”
Next, Texas hosts Florida on October 17. Then comes Ole Miss, where Finebaum said Texas will see a better quarterback in Trinidad Chambliss, along with Missouri and LSU. Whether Manning looks like the elite passer or the pedestrian one in those games may decide which side of this argument gets louder.