Greg McElroy defends Arch Manning performance vs. Florida

Much has been made of the struggles of Texas quarterback Arch Manning this season. He entered the year as one of the preseason favorites to win the Heisman Trophy. Now his odds are an extreme long shot.

Manning has thrown an interception in four of five games so far, including a two-interception outing last week against Florida. But at least one college football analyst thinks he’s coming along. And the Texas offense with him.

“I would imagine they’ll play well this weekend,” ESPN’s Greg McElroy said on the Always College Football podcast. “I think Arch actually played great last weekend. No one wants to say that, no one wants to pay attention to that because that’s not a hot topic. But he played really well under the circumstances.”

The circumstances, of course, would be that he faced a ferocious Florida defense that kept him under pressure all afternoon. The offensive line struggled to block for him. Arch Manning threw the two picks as a result.

But he also kept Texas in the game until the end, when the Longhorns just couldn’t quite complete the comeback. Manning showed off some nice running to extend a few drives, picking up 37 yards on 15 carries. He finished 16-of-29 passing for 263 yards with two touchdowns and the two interceptions.

McElroy believes Arch Manning could be in line to build off last week’s performance. In the Red River Rivalry against an unbeaten Oklahoma team, Texas will need every bit of that.

“This will be a significant step up defensively,” McElroy pointed out. “For me, though, I think Oklahoma’s defense is about as good as I’ve seen in college football this year. I, however, don’t think they’ve seen as much firepower as Texas is capable of presenting them. I think Auburn‘s receivers are better, but this is a (Texas) group that has yet to really hit their stride. So is Oklahoma in a position where their defense can actually lock them down?”

We’ll find out this weekend. Arch Manning is certainly hoping to flip the general narrative, even if analysts like McElroy are beginning to come around on his play.

So far this season Manning is 81-of-135 passing for 1,151 yards, with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s also run for 160 yards and five scores.

Texas and Oklahoma will meet on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live nationally on ABC.