The easiest thing in college football is building up the next superstar. The hard part comes when reality shows up. Paul Finebaum learned that the uncomfortable way. A year after putting Texas QB Arch Manning on a pedestal few players could ever live up to, the longtime SEC Network analyst is now admitting he got carried away. Speaking about the $2.5M SEC QB this offseason, he owned up to his mistake.

“The pressure on him was criminal, and it’s all my fault,” Paul Finebaum admitted.

That change in tone matters because Paul Finebaum was one of the loudest voices praising Arch Manning last offseason. He called the Texas QB the best prospect at that position the sport had seen since Tim Tebow, a comparison that instantly raised both eyebrows and expectations. At that point, Manning had barely thrown 100 college passes, but discussions around him had already jumped to Heisman trophies and unrivaled performances. Then the season began.

Against Ohio State, Arch Manning finished 17-of-30 for 170 yards with one touchdown and an interception in a 14-7 defeat. Texas struggled to move the ball for most of the afternoon, and the QB never looked comfortable against a defense that kept collapsing the pocket and forcing hurried decisions.

Paul Finebaum was equally blunt after the game, calling the performance disappointing and admitting his offseason predictions had missed the mark. Later, he went even further. Looking back on the hype cycle, the CFB analyst admitted he became caught up in the Manning surname and everything attached to it. He described his earlier predictions as “shatteringly wrong” and even joked that his wife asked how he could have been “so stupid.”

Ahead of the 2026 season, Paul Finebaum is expected to still believe Arch Manning has Heisman-level talent. “I’m not gonna do the Tebow comparisons like I did last year because we don’t know that. But the upside for Arch Manning is obviously the Heisman Trophy, at the minimum, or Heisman finalist. And I think he’s very capable because this year, he has a complete team around him,” Finebaum added.

Meanwhile, the Longhorns QB admitted back in April that the biggest pressure last season was happening between his ears.

“Quite mental, to be honest,” he said about his slow start. “I think I just need to go out there and play my game.”

He later admitted he wasn’t even enjoying football during the first half of the season.

“I think I could have had more fun,” he said. “The first half of the season, I was (ticked). I wasn’t playing well, and it wasn’t fun for me… And then I kind of sort of said, ‘Screw it,’ had a little more fun and started winning some games.”

That shift showed as Texas steadied itself and finished 10-3. Arch Manning’s first season as the full-time SEC starter became more respectable than spectacular. It wasn’t the instant Heisman campaign many predicted, but it also wasn’t the disaster some early critics claimed. The expectations still haven’t disappeared, though. 

Arch Manning enters the new season among the leading Heisman contenders alongside Oregon QB Dante Moore, Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss, Ohio State QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith. The difference is that even Paul Finebaum seems determined not to add another layer of pressure.