In trying to shield Arch Manning, Steve Sarkisian may have gone too far. So much so, what should have been natural support turned into something that came off as strained and heavy-handed. After their face-off with San Jose State, Manning’s wincing after some throws was visible, raising injury concerns. But Sarkisian slammed down the concerns, making it clear during the post-game presser, “He doesn’t have any,” followed by dishing out an inappropriate comment for the reporter. And after Manning’s underwhelming showing against the UTEP Miners, the noise only grew louder. That’s when a college football analyst held Sarkisian responsible for the quarterback’s fate.

In the September 15th episode of the Cover 3 Podcast, Dann Kannell came out with his analysis of Manning’s situation, “He looks like somebody who is really, really struggling. I wish personally I actually would feel better about it if Sark had said last week instead of his little press conference where he went off,  on the media. I would have felt better if he said, ‘You know what, he’s dealing with something. He’s got a sore shoulder. He’s got a sore rib.’ Anything than saying there aren’t any issues instead of what you saw now with a healthy Arch Manning.” Manning only completed 11 of 25 passes for 114 yards, with a touchdown, and an interception. The Longhorns clearly lacked rhythm in the passing game.

Sarkisian would have felt under some pressure to play Manning instead of benching him. After all, benching a highly hyped QB like Manning against a weaker team like UTEP might have turned them into a laughingstock. Kannell then compared Manning to other highly hyped athletes like NBA stars Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons. They, too, were expected to dominate but faced struggles largely due to confidence and mental blocks rather than physical ability.

Now, if Sarkisian thinks that he got his own sweet time to figure things out about Manning, here came a wake-up call. “This is a greater problem that Sark has one week to figure out, and I don’t know if you can solve it in one week. He has got to get Arch to play more free, to get him to go out there and play with confidence,” noted Kannell. Meanwhile, Manning could no longer keep things to himself and opened up about his mental struggles.  

Arch Manning open up about his play

Sports anchor Cory Mose shared a clip from Manning’s post-game interview. The question for him was straightforward, if his struggles are more mental or physical. Unlike his head coach, he did not try to hide the reality. Instead admitting, “Probably mental, to be honest. Like, I think I just need to go out there and play my game. I know the type of athlete and type of player I am. Just go cut it loose and have some fun, play ball.” 

Meanwhile ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt made a sarcastic comment on the Longhorns QB problems. He said, “Speaking of quarterbacks, that week one loss on the road, Sark says you can’t be a quarterback till you get booed off the field. So now Arch Manning’s a quarterback.” Manning was booed by his own crowd during the UTEP game.

So much so, that the Texas coordinator, Michael Bimonte, had to escort him to the locker room. Now, what’s next for Arch Manning? Scott Van Pelt is giving the quarterback another game to turn the tables in his favor. “We had those as get-right games… Then they go to Florida. You get one more game against a team you’re going to beat by default, and then you go to Gainesville,” said the analyst. Manning needs to sharpen his mind as much as his arm.