Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning is being met with high-level criticism, and Steve Sarkisian doesn’t feel that it’s fair.
Sarkisian met with the media on Monday following the crushing 27-24 upset loss to the unranked Oklahoma Sooners, and set the record straight when it comes to some of the expectations that Manning faces given his last name.
Sarkisian feels that if Manning had a different last name, the criticism would be different.
“I think if you took the name off the back of his jersey and you said, ‘Here’s Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas, and here’s a guy who’s beaten four top 10 ranked teams in those last 13 starts,’ we’d be praising the guy, but the expectations are high for him,” Sarkisian said. “But he understands that the expectations are high for all of us. So we got to get back to work.”
Does Manning need to be better? Absolutely. No quarterback can walk away from throwing two fourth-quarter interceptions that cost his team the game and not deserve a notable level of criticism.
But both Texas and college football fans appear to have quickly forgotten what Manning has done for the Longhorns
Even when he wasn’t the full-time starter, Manning has been a critical piece of some big-time wins for Texas over the past few seasons. He led the Longhorns to the program’s first-ever SEC win in 2024 against Mississippi State before scoring the first touchdown of the renewed Lone Star Showdown with Texas A&M later that season.
There’s been lows: the losses to Ohio State, Florida, Georgia and now Oklahoma.
But there’s been way more highs: Top-10 wins over Ohio State, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Few active quarterbacks at the FBS level can boast that kind of resume as a starter.
On the other hand though, there’s the argument that in the event Manning had a different last name, Sarkisian would have him on a shorter leash after some of the mistakes that ensued against Oklahoma.
Either way, there’s no point in playing the hypothetical game. The reality is that Manning’s successes at Texas often get overlooked but he also needs to be much better if the Longhorns want to win it all.
Both things can be true.
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