Arch Manning and the Longhorns have relinquished the top spot in the national polls, and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is unsurprisingly rushing to the defense of the heavily scrutinized quarterbacking scion.
Manning, the nephew of NFL greats Peyton and Eli Manning, threw two costly interceptions in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 27-24 road loss to unranked Oklahoma in the annual Red River Rivalry clash.
“I think if you took the name off the back of his jersey and said here’s Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas and here’s a guy who’s beaten four top-10 ranked teams in his last 13 starts, we’d be praising the guy,” Sarkisian said Monday. “But the expectations are high for [Manning], and he understands that.
“The expectations are high for all of us, so we gotta put our nose back to the grind and get to work.”
The junior signal-caller has has completed 63.0 percent of his pass attempts this season for 1,122 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions in five games.
One of his picks on Saturday was returned for a touchdown that put Oklahoma on top, and the other came near the end of regulation to set up the Sooners’ game-winning field goal.
“Everybody’s a little bit different…[but] I think Arch is on a nice trajectory,” Sarkisian added. “I hate it for him. He had two interceptions in the fourth quarter of that game, when, quite frankly, I thought he played pretty good up until that point.
“And that’s the frustrating part, but that’s the level of consistency that’s needed. We know he can be really good in critical moments. We saw that here against Ohio State. We saw that in the fourth quarter drive against Tennessee. So just getting him back to that, playing with confidence and trust in his ability and the guys around him.”
Georgia took over the No.1 position in this week’s AP Top 25, with Texas (4-1) sliding to No. 7 ahead of this week’s game against Florida in Austin — with SEC games to follow against Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and LSU.
The Oklahoma loss gives Texas less margin for error to qualify for the College Football Playoff for the third time in four years.
“I think I can always do better. I always look at myself first,” Sarkisian said. “My job is to put our players in the best position to be successful. And if we’re not hitting on all cylinders, if we’re having three-and-outs, if we’re turning the ball over, clearly I have to look at what we’re doing and what we’re asking them to do first.
“And then are they executing what we’re asking them to do, and are those things that we’re asking them to do things that they do well? So I think it’s a combination of all that, and ultimately that’s my job, and I take full responsibility for all that.”
