The Texas football team shockingly fell flat on its face in a 14-7 loss to Ohio State in Columbus. With Arch Manning as the starting quarterback, the Heisman Trophy candidate did not live up to expectations in Week 1.
Manning's performance drew plenty of backlash, including from former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III and more. With a ton of buzz coming into this season, Manning went just 17-of-30 fr 170 yards with one touchdown and an interception.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said Manning's expectations were “out of control” entering the year, which didn't help the added pressure he had on his shoulders.
Nonetheless, the head coach has a plan in place to help Manning bounce back, as he said on Thursday via Inside Texas.
“I think Arch has a natural feel under center. When you can get under center, the run game hits a little bit differently. You get the running back 7.5 yards behind the quarterback, you can run a little bit more down hill. I think that in turn helps your play action pass game. I don't think that was a one off for Ohio State. I think that's going to be part of our offense moving forward throughout the season,” Sarkisian said.
As Sarkisian said, “that's going to be part of our offense moving forward,” which makes it seem like changes are going to be instituted starting in Week 2.
Of course, opening the season against the national champions on the road was a tough task for Manning and the Longhorns. In some more positive news, Texas has an easy schedule coming up with three straight home games against San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston State before a Week 5 bye and then jumping into the SEC schedule.
If Manning can improve over the next few weeks, the games against Florida and Oklahoma in October could be a strong indication of how good he can be for this team.
