After pulling off a 24-23 comeback against Ohio State, erasing a 20-point deficit and rising to No. 1 in the country, Arch Manning spent time apologizing to ESPN’s Holly Rowe and answering for a comment he probably wishes he could take back. Now, Ryan Clark, who got dismissed by ESPN this July in a rather controversial fashion, isn’t ready to write him off over it.
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“Arch Manning showed this week that he still has some growing up to do,” wrote Clark on X. “The Holly Rowe situation was a reminder of that, but I believe he’ll get the mentorship to grow from it. Because on the field, Arch has already shown tremendous growth.”
Right after that win, Manning issued an apology for his comments regarding an AI video on his Instagram story.
“Last year was full of lessons, and much of that growth came full circle in Texas’ comeback against Ohio State. Now he’s in the CFP hunt, the Heisman conversation, and building a case to be the No. 1 overall pick,” Clark added in an X post, with a clip of his appearance on The Pivot’s 3-man show on Netflix.
When asked on Monday about postgame social posts from the win, a reporter brought up an AI edit of Sarkisian making violent physical contact with Rowe and Manning called it “hilarious.” That comment, paired with a reporter’s caption calling the answer “gold,” set off a rough few days for the program.
Manning apologized to Rowe directly on Instagram, saying he made an “insensitive comment” and needed to “do better.” Rowe accepted, saying their conversation would stay private and that they would “move forward with respect and kindness for one another.”
Sarkisian addressed this on Thursday, walking through his own role in it. He explained that a delayed halftime interview with Laura Rutledge came down to ESPN’s technical issues, and that the postgame delay with Rowe happened because he wanted to celebrate a 20-point fourth-quarter comeback with his team first.
Looking back, he said he wished he had shown more patience with Rowe given their long relationship dating back to his playing days at BYU. He also made clear the program doesn’t condone what the AI video depicted, and that Manning has since apologized and is trying to move past it.
Now, Clark’s read on Manning leans heavily on what happened before any of this started.
“I knew he needed time, and people felt like I was wrong because I said he needed time,” Clark said in the X clip. “I knew the level he played at in New Orleans. It was gonna take some time to get used to playing with better players, both on your team and against them.”
He pointed to Manning’s growth across last season, saying the early struggles actually freed him up. Last season, the 22-year-old QB played in 13 games with a completion percentage of 64.4 for 3,163 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while trying to live up to the names of his uncles, Eli and Peyton.
“But you could see he had talent. The dude had two balls in the first half. One was incomplete, and one was the interception, and they couldn’t have been thrown no better.”
That growth was more evident against Ohio State. Manning erased a 20-point deficit with three straight touchdown drives in the final quarter. The win pushed Texas to No. 1 and put Manning squarely in the Heisman race, with NFL scouts already looking at him as a candidate for the top overall pick.
Texas gets back on the field Saturday night against UTSA, still undefeated at home and still No. 1, with Manning now carrying both the credit for one of the year’s best wins and the fallout from one bad joke.