By: Matthew Weatherby
Capital Sports Network
On Saturday, Arch Manning finally took the field for his first real start against a legitimate opponent (sorry, 2024 Mississippi State). His final stat line: 17-of-30 for 170 yards, one touchdown, one interception, plus 10 carries for 38 yards. On paper, not awful. On the field, it looked worse. Arch Manning wasn’t just battling Ohio State—he was battling the uncontrollable.
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The Uncontrollables
Manning entered Saturday carrying more baggage than just his pads. The media had crowned him the sport’s next great hope before he’d done much on the field. Paul Finebaum practically turned into a fanboy whenever Manning’s name came up. As recent history shows—think 2023 Colorado—media hype can be as damaging as it is flattering. The Buffaloes were 3–0, and suddenly the press was putting them in conversations they didn’t belong in. That hype made people root for their failure.
Now, Manning is in the same spot. His shaky performance became fuel for critics who were waiting to pounce, even though the backlash was aimed more at the hype than the player himself.
The Football Uncontrollables
Then there was the stage: your first true road start at Ohio State, preseason No. 3 in the country. As if that weren’t enough, the Buckeyes had just hired Matt Patricia, a three-time Super Bowl champion and longtime Bill Belichick understudy. Few coaches know better how to make an inexperienced quarterback feel their inexperience like Patricia. It’s part of what made him so successful in New England.
Patricia had the tools to do it, too. Ohio State’s defense returned leaders like Caleb Downs and David Igbinosun in the secondary, plus linebackers Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese—who could easily be the nation’s best tandem by year’s end.
Manning had never faced team speed like this. A quick look back at his limited snaps against Georgia last year might have given fans a hint of what was to come, but most relied on media narratives instead: that the newest member of football’s “First Family” was already the best of the bunch.
The Controllables
Still, Manning had a job to do—win the game. And on that front, he failed. His mechanics and timing unraveled under pressure. He looked like a quarterback overwhelmed by the speed and weight of the moment.
The most obvious flaw: his sidearm throws. Against Ohio State, it felt like almost everything came out sidearm—less Matthew Stafford sidearming a throw to create a new throwing lane, more a panicked fallback that screamed thing were moving a bit too fast. The viral clip of Manning sidearming an open throw over the middle, with his hips parallel to the o-line, a clear lane, was especially glaring. You cannot make those kinds of simple errors consistently.
His timing wasn’t much better. Several throws were late, mistimed, or forced, making routine plays unnecessarily difficult. For a quarterback with his pedigree, those mistakes stood out.
The Bigger Picture
Here’s the thing: Manning will be fine. That’s not the hot take social media wants, but it’s the truth. Timing and trusting what you’re seeing improve with reps, and when those improve, mechanics usually follow.
He’s not a star yet, and it’s impossible to predict when the switch flips. But Texas fans have reason to be patient. Over the next three weeks they have home games against San José State, UTEP, Sam Houston. He has a chance to settle in before a real litmus test: October 4th in Gainesville against Florida. That game will tell us far more about what Texas’ 2025 season will look like than his rough night in Columbus.
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