The Arch Manning era for the Texas Longhorns begins on August 30 when they travel to Columbus with a Week 1 showdown against Ohio State. Nonetheless, while many are excited to see Manning as the starter, he faces pressure.
Not only is the 21-year-old at the head of a national title contender in Texas, but he also has the Manning last name. As a result, Dan Le Batard stated that there could be lofty expectations to be good right out of the gate, considering his uncles Peyton Manning and Eli Manning also had impressive college careers before dominating the NFL level.
“I don’t know what the pressure actually is of growing up in the Manning name, but for two years, they’ve been incubating this kid who comes with the expectation of your uncles carried this league for 15 years, fighting [Tom] Brady, and they were the top of the sport, and we expect you to good because Eli was good at Mississippi, and we all saw it before Mississippi was any good,” Le Batard said on “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.”
“We know what these people are supposed to look like. And the pressure of that… the pressure of this quarterback against Ohio State, the defending champion, a team that’s super loaded. What are the reasonable expectations there?”
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Last season, Manning dipped his toes into the college football pool after redshirting his freshman year. The young signal caller appeared in 10 games, completing 67.8 percent of his passes while recording 939 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions.
Moreover, Manning won’t have time to ease into his starting role with the game against the Buckeyes. Le Batard’s co-host, Jonathan Zaslow, said his expectation is simple: he wants to see Manning head into Columbus and come out with a win. It’s not about playing well or anything like that—just win.
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“Go in there and win,” Zaslow said. “That’s literally the expectation. Go in there. Your first game as the man for Texas. Been waiting for years. Go in there. At Ohio State, they’ll dot that stupid eye pregame and beat him.”
If Texas want to hold onto its No. 1 ranking that was given by the AP in the preseason, the Longhorns will have to just win. Now will Manning add the style points and have a statement game remains to be seen.
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