College GameDay evaluates pressure on Arch Manning, Steve Sarkisian entering Red River Rivalry

Neither Texas nor the Longhorns’ QB1 have met any of the preseason expectations surrounding them. Now, their season is on the line going into their rivalry game in Red River on Saturday.

The ‘College GameDay Podcast’, with ESPN’s Rece Davis, Pete Thamel, and Dan Wetzel, discussed what has gone wrong for Texas on Monday. Davis began, outlining their fall, most recently with last weekend’s loss at Florida, from being the top-ranked team in the country coming in to one with a ton of issues going into this weekend’s matchup against OU in the Cotton Bowl.

“Texas is the other side of this. Arch Manning is going to be the lightning rod. He’s going to get all of the criticism. But, they can’t protect him, they can’t run and, really, for the first time on Saturday, their defense got beat a little bit more often,” said Davis. “Texas is in the midst of a mess with this highly-touted quarterback, who is much more gifted than his level of production and play right now. Sarkisian hasn’t been able to push quite the right buttons just yet to manufacture some type of offense. And, here they are, out of the Top-25 from Preseason No. 1 after a loss at Florida – and here comes Oklahoma, maybe with…don’t know if John Mateer is going to play or not. But, as bad as Florida was and as good as Oklahoma’s defense has been? Might not matter. They might just shut down the Texas offense and win the game on Saturday.

“It’s just been a system failure. My big belief in Arch was based in what I believe to be high-end skills and ability and athleticism and, obviously, knowledge and immersion in the game over the years, but it was also based on Sarkisian’s uncanny ability to get guys throws that they can make…It’s as if nothing has really gone smoothly. It’s been clunky even against bad teams.”

Wetzel went next, but was far more scathing about the team, program, and head coach than just the quarterback. He thinks a loss to the Sooners in Dallas on Saturday could be an indictment on Texas beyond just what’s going wrong for them so far this season, namely on offense.

“The Oklahoma defensive line is every bit as good, probably better, than Florida’s, and Florida’s line dominated. Florida dominated on both sides of the ball. And, I think that’s the big concern for Texas. Their offensive line could not protect Arch Manning, which does not excuse Arch Manning’s performance in this game,” said Wetzel. “You can see, with Arch Manning, his ability to make some throws. There’s moments there. But, he holds the ball too long, he overthrows. You know, this guy is not nearly the player that everyone was expecting at this point. And, I don’t know how – the thing with Arch? Everyone blames the media, and that’s fine. The media has no clue what’s going to happen…But, I mean, every draft guy? Number one pick! Really? Like, I mean, this just isn’t it. The pressure on Arch Manning going into Red River is enormous, and I don’t know. He’s got to find himself and show something that we haven’t seen.

“This is just not a good football team right now…They just aren’t, and I don’t know how good the program is. You know, Steve Sarkisian and James Franklin are very, very similar. They beat the teams they’re supposed to beat generally but, against the top competition, they aren’t…Who have they actually defeated through the years? What is this Texas program other than, we beat teams we should beat? And, I just thought, that game on Saturday…you’re just watching this empire collapse and you go, ‘Man, they just aren’t that good. Texas, this game Saturday? It could be their rebirth, or it could be break really bad and be one of those Red River games of just enormous frustration. Because they need to win, and they don’t look like a team that could win that game. They haven’t so far.”

Thamel was then a little less sure, as he full knows what can happen for either team in the Red River Rivalry. But, that said, he also has his concerns about an offense that has been no better than average, if not just bad in some aspects, through five games.

“Red River games are always bonkers. We have to remember that,” Thamel mentioned. “There’s always a special teams play. There’s always something wild that happens in Red River. It is a game with an unusual amount of emotion, even for college football that’s such an emotionally-charged sport.

“For Texas? To me, the things that glaring is they replaced four starting offensive linemen, couple high picks in the draft. And they just simply couldn’t run the ball against Florida. It was totally jarring…Arch has not been good, like, in any way, but what’s been around him has been pretty pedestrian too. So, like, he deserves blame and, you know, he is not what he was made out to be. Now, I was an advocate of, like, giving him some grace for growth, right, but now we’re a handful of games in and we’re starting to see who he is, and he is a pedestrian college quarterback right now. And he’s not going to get better if the line is not better and the run game is not better. It’s a little bit of a flawed product right now for Texas.”

For all of these concerns, Texas could turn a lot of this around come kickoff against Oklahoma. They’ll have to, though, if they have any hope of achieving what they still want to this season.

“There is a challenge of their competitive character, and the opportunity that, now, finally, there are no expectations, only doubters. There is no belief that Texas is one of the best teams in the country, only belief that they are a massive disappointment and a colossal collapse,” said Davis. “So, maybe that gives them the opportunity to exhale and play to the level of their talent.”

“If Texas is going to somehow make some miracle run here? They only have one SEC loss, and so you got to reboot and say, look, man, if we win out, we’re going to get to the SEC Championship. But, right now, they need to show something,” Wetzel said. “There’s obviously a shot for Texas, but I just don’t know. Beating Red River solves a lot of problems, but I can only imagine the hair on fire down in Austin right now when this is what you’re putting out there considering the hype going into the season.”