Steve Sarkisian: Arch Manning ‘competed his heart out’ vs. Florida

Arch Manning again struggled in his now second outing against a quality opponent, and in what is now Texas’ second loss of the season, at Florida on Saturday. Even so, Steve Sarkisian felt there was one part of his game this weekend that no one could question.

Sarkisian discussed Manning’s latest performance during his postgame press conference after the 29-21 loss for the Longhorns to the Gators. First and foremost, though, was the credit he gave, and their team gave, despite defeat in The Swamp.

“I thought he competed his heart out, you know,” said Sarkisian. “Again, our entire team did. I think most people thought we were probably dead and gone, and we fought all the way back. We had a chance there at the end.”

Manning was 16-29 (55.2%) for 263 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions, while also having taken six sacks. The picks and sacks were a season-high while the completion rate was his second-lowest of his season. Texas is struggling beyond him too, with the run game, their offensive line, and eventually their defense not playing well either. But now, through a pair of road losses against their two power opponents of the year at Ohio State and at Florida, Manning is 33-59 (55.9%) for 216.5 passing yards with three touchdowns and picks apiece.

Again, Manning has not played well at several points now, for the most part in three of the five games, for Texas. That’s with Sarkisian again mentioning his quarterback’s need to be better in situational scenarios, albeit still being a young starter. His competitiveness, though, was again still there.

“I think, you know, a learning lesson for him is the situations of the game – you know, of not taking a sack in two-minute with no timeouts and having the ability to throw the ball away. But, it was just because he was competing so hard,” said Sarkisian. “He’ll learn that stuff, you know, and that’s part of the process of growing and developing as a young quarterback.”

“But, proud of his competitive spirit. Made some big-time plays for us. I’m sure there’s going to be a few other plays he’d love to have back, but don’t question his heart at all,” Sarkisian said. “He battled tonight.”

Manning has yet to excel, and certainly not so in a big moment, this fall. However, if he’s going to, next weekend would be a great time for it on one of the biggest stages of the Longhorns’ season in the Red River Rivalry against No. 6 Oklahoma from the Cotton Bowl.