Josh Pate reacts to Arch Manning struggles vs. Ohio State, gives sideline perspective

There was maybe no bigger letdown from week one than the play of Texas QB Arch Manning. That said, while seeing him struggle for himself, Josh Pate says that’s more to blame on the public than on the player himself in this instance.

On ‘Josh Pate’s College Football Show’ on Sunday afternoon, Pate provided his reaction to Manning’s debut during the 14-7 road loss for No. 1 Texas to No. 3 Ohio State. He expressed his own disappointment based on his own expectations, while also saying it was more so because the Longhorns did enough otherwise defensively to win the game in Columbus.

“I was disappointed in ’em. I expected more from Texas offensively,” said Pate. “I was not part of that ‘Arch For Heisman’ group. I was not part of that group at all. You’ll remember, on this show, we sung quite a different tune than most of America did on Arch Manning. Having said that, Arch has been around there for a long time and he’s ultra-talented, and I just flat out expected more.”

“I don’t care who they were playing and where they were playing ’em. You hold someone to 14 in their own building? You’re Texas, and you’ve got the kind of talent stacked on top of each other they do? You’ve got to win the game,” Pate said. “If you told me on Friday that they’re going to give up 14, are you happy with that? Absolutely, I’m happy about that! You’re going hold them to 2.3 yards per carry, are you happy about that? Absolutely, I’m happy about that! I’m going to win! I’m going to win ten times out of ten if I’m Texas, but I didn’t.”

In yesterday’s loss to the Buckeyes, Manning was 17-30 (56.7%) for 170 yards, a touchdown, and an interception along with another near pick which was overturned. He also rushed for 38 yards. Manning eventually settled in some with a fourth quarter where he went 8-16 for 132 yards and the touchdown. However, with his performance through the first three quarters and eventually doing it in a defeat, his poorer play was one of the biggest stories coming out of Saturday.

From down on the field, Pate saw live why it all went wrong for Manning. He knew he was inexperienced, but he didn’t anticipate for some of his motion to look so off or for him to look as unready as he did at times.

“I did not expect, if Texas lost, for it to be reasons related to timing and accuracy and mechanics. I’m not a quarterbacks coach, but even I’m standing there on the field watching and saying that doesn’t look right. ‘Ugh, that ball didn’t even come out of his hand right’. Look at the trajectory on the ball. It was the kind of game, from field level, where, if you were watching it, you did not have to see where the ball went. I was standing next to Will Compton yesterday, and I had two different instances where the ball comes out of Arch’s hand and you can say underthrown or overthrown. You don’t even have to be looking downfield. You can just tell it’s coming out of his hand wrong,” said Pate. “That strips a Steve Sarkisian offense of everything I respect about it and people fear about it. Accuracy and anticipations are musts. Those are non-negotiables. Your quarterback has to have those.”

“His mechanics were bad. His timing was off. I thought he was indecisive. I really hesitate to say guys played scared. I don’t think he had fear in him. I think he was very hesitant to make decisions that have to be made a lot quicker, so it’s not fear. I don’t think, if you zoomed in on him, he has like the shaky hand. I don’t think it was anything like that. I don’t know if he trusted his preparation, I guess is the best way to put that, because they had him prepared,” Pate went on to say later. “You’re not going to tell me Steve Sarkisian failed to have a quarterback prepared. But, there’s not much you can do from a play-calling standpoint when a guy is not releasing the ball within the timing structure of the play, within the progression structure of the play. There’s nothing you can do as a play-caller, and you’re certainly not going to throw your player under the bus so you kind of have to own it.”

Again, this was the thirteenth career game and third-ever start, all of this in his first appearance as their actual quarterback, for Manning. That’s why Pate fully expects that it’s going to get better for him, if for no other reason than it has to for those down in Austin.

“You can look at that two different ways. I’m high on Texas, so I’m going to choose to look at it optimistically and I’m going to choose to think that that guy is a really high-caliber athlete. Steve Sarkisian is a really high-caliber coach, so is his staff. They’re going to get it right. They’re going to get it right,” said Pate. “That’s what I’m going to choose to believe.”

Pate speaks on overreaction to Manning’s performance

As for the national reaction to Manning’s outing since yesterday, though, Pate finds some of it to be irresponsible. That’s after the preseason expectations of him became irresponsible to begin with in his opinion based on how high the bar was set by the public.

“Are you hearing that Arch Manning is a bust? Are you hearing that Arch Manning is overrated? Because, I’m hearing that…I’m hearing, per sources, that Arch Manning is overrated,” said Pate. “Well, you know the question around here. You know the rule around here. If you label somebody or something overrated, the first thing we need to know is what was he rated, what was it rated? In this case, we do have an answer. Arch Manning was the preseason favorite to win the Heisman. So then, my follow-up question is, well who rated him? Did Arch rate himself? If you’re new, you need to know this is not hindsight I’m speaking with. I have asked this for months – what’s the expectation for Arch? And I told you what my expectation was. Does anyone remember?…I said, I expect him to be a pretty good player – nothing more, at least at the outset. And, if he’s more than that, great, but it’s unfair to expect it. Now, no one wanted to hear that because what his last name and how many stars were next to his name, and he’s been at Texas multiple years and in Sark’s offense.”

“As far as Arch Manning being overrated, the expectations were completely out of whack. I’ve said this for months,” Pate continued. “Here’s an age-old problem in college football. People rank players and rank teams and state their expectations all the time. I do as well, but here’s the difference…Arch Manning is going to do what he’s destined to do. If I pump him up and go yell in everybody of mine’s face, ‘Hey, he’s going to win the Heisman!’ and he doesn’t, how dumb is it of me to get mad at the kid? I’m the one who made the prediction. As far as I can tell, Arch Manning hasn’t made a prediction about himself.”

Pate understands why the hype was set as highly as it was but, at some point, he thinks it’s on the people more than it is on the player, who, by the way, made his debut in about as big of a game as he could have. Because of that, he’s not buying him as a bust, just like he didn’t buy that he was already the best player in the sport, coming out of this weekend as far as Manning.

“So, yeah, he’s the quarterback at Texas, yeah his last name is Manning, yeah he needs to do a lot better than he did yesterday. He’s got eleven more games to go this year. That’s the first thing I want to remind you,” said Pate. “The second thing I want to remind you is he played Ohio State on the road to start his career virtually. Not the easiest thing to do.”

“There’s a long way to go. I don’t know if he’s overrated. I don’t think I had him overrated, because I didn’t have him rated what other people had him rated to begin with,” Pate said. “Calling the guy a bust after one week?…People who are calling Arch Manning a bust are just rage-baiting you. They are looking for clicks, or they’re mad at themselves but, instead of blaming themselves for overrating somebody, they’re projecting the anger onto the player – so there’s that.”