Paul Finebaum believes Texas' loss to Ohio State in CFP could have gone differently with Arch Manning at QB

All eyes are on Texas quarterback Arch Manning as he enters his first season as the Longhorns’ starter. During an appearance on SportsCenter on Tuesday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum weighed in on whether Texas will be fine with Manning starting behind center.

“There is nothing finer than Arch Manning starting at Texas. It’s long overdue,” Finebaum said. “Arch Manning should have come in in the Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State, and I think there’s a chance that that game could have gone differently. But he is going to bring Texas within a whisker of perhaps another run at a national championship.”

Finebaum isn’t the only one who thinks Manning should’ve played more in Texas’ 28-14 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinals earlier this year. After watching Manning find immense success earlier in the year, many Texas fans wanted Sarkisian to sub in Manning when the Longhorns were struggling against Ohio State.

After all, Texas’ QB1, Quinn Ewers, wasn’t having much luck. In the loss, Ewers only completed 23-of-his-39 pass attempts (58.9%) for two touchdowns while throwing an interception. Ewers also committed two fumbles, one of which was recovered by Ohio State’s swarming defense.

Despite fans’ pleas, head coach Steve Sarkisian stuck by Ewers’ side and only called one play for Manning, who ran the ball for eight yards. While Sarkisian undoubtedly had his reasons for keeping Ewers in the game, the Texas faithful weren’t crazy for being confident in Manning’s ability.

Manning started twice last season while Quinn Ewers recovered from an abdominal injury. In his two starts, Manning completed 41-60 pass attempts for 583 yards and four touchdowns while only throwing two interceptions. He also recorded 29 rushing yards and a touchdown.

While Manning didn’t start in Texas’ Week 2 win over UTSA, he subbed in early after Ewers suffered an abdominal strain. The 6-foot-4 phenom finished the game 223 passing yards, 53 rushing yards and five total touchdowns.

Although Manning didn’t get the chance to save the day last season, he’ll have to be Texas’ hero on a weekly basis in the upcoming season. Fans expect nothing less. In fact, Sarkisian has had to temper fans’ expectations this offseason to take some pressure off the redshirt sophomore.

“Arch is a great player, but I hope for everybody here that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” Sarkisian said. “Let’s let this guy go play this year. Let’s let him have fun in finally getting his opportunity as the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. It’s been a lifelong dream for this guy to do this. 

“I know some of you have seen the videos of him as a kid wearing the Longhorn jersey and talking about playing for Texas. It’s finally his time and I hope he can just have the opportunity to enjoy it and enjoy it the right way.”