Arch Manning criticizes his play in Texas' loss to Ohio State: 'I've got to play better'

The highly anticipated opener between Ohio State and Texas didn’t go exactly how the Longhorns would have liked it, though they had a chance late. But for Arch Manning and company it’ll go down as a hard-fought loss.

Manning opened up on the contest afterward, admitting he bore a lot of blame for the loss. The good news, though, is that he thought many of the mistakes were self-inflicted. Clean them up and all the sudden the team will be right there in contention.

“Ultimately, not good enough,” Manning said. “Obviously you don’t want to start off the season 0-1. They’re a good team. I thought we beat ourselves a lot, and that starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win.”

Arch Manning had a tough go of it in the first half, as Texas couldn’t establish much in the passing game. He went to the locker room just 5-of-10 passing for 26 yards.

As Ohio State opened up a double-digit lead in the second half, Texas had to push a bit more. Manning started to find a little more rhythm in the game as a result.

He would finish the game 17-of-30 passing for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception. There were areas to clean up and things to build on. And, perhaps most importantly, Arch Manning seems to have earned more trust from his head coach after the opener.

“We saw some real flashes and glimpses of the type of player that he’s going to become here,” Sarkisian said in the postgame press conference. “Sure, he’s going to watch the tape and say ‘man, I wish this. I wish that.’ That’s the life of a competitor, but I think there’s a lot to hold onto of what the future is going to look like for Arch Manning here.”

Despite the rocky start, Sarkisian thought Manning carried himself well during Saturday’s game. He thought his quarterback stayed the course despite the up-and-down showing, adding that will also be important as the season goes along.

“I thought Arch’s poise and composure was really good in this game,” Sarkisian said. “I didn’t feel like he got rattled. I think I learned about him a little bit playing that I’ve got to let him go play. That’ll help us, but he’s going to be a really good leader.”

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this report.