Just five days ago, Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning was on top of the world.
The redshirt sophomore was quarterbacking the No. 1 team in the country as he made his season debut in one of the more highly anticipated Week 1 college football matchups in recent memory.
But after Saturday’s tilt with then-No. 3-ranked Ohio State, there were more questions than answers about Manning and the Longhorns.
In just his third college start, the 21-year-old signal-caller completed just 17 of 30 passes (56.7%) for 170 yards, a touchdown, and an interception as Texas fell 14-7 to the defending national champion Buckeyes.
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Manning faced a great deal of criticism after the game with several analysts questioning whether he was truly ready to embrace the starting QB role for a top-tier college program like Texas, while others were quick to already label him an NFL draft bust despite him being a year or two away from turning pro.
But others, like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, were quick to point out that Manning faced quite a daunting task in just his third-ever college start.
“With Arch Manning, I think they’ll have a chance to get back,” Herbstreit said, via On3. “That was a tough ask to go into Ohio Stadium, defending national champs, with a quarterback who had a couple starts last year, but this was his first ‘It’s his team now’ kind of moment against a really athletic Ohio State defense with Matt Patricia.
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“But they’ll go back. They’ll learn from that. I think Texas is going to be fine. Tough schedule in the SEC, but I think at the end of the day, they still be a team that’s going to end up making the playoff.”
While Manning took his share of lumps in the media, he also felt the effects of Saturday’s disappointing performance in other areas as well — most noticeably in his wallet.
According to On3, Manning’s NIL valuation dropped by $485,000 after the weekend, marking the biggest drop of any player in the site’s NIL valuation rankings.
Despite the drop off, Manning is still the highest-paid player in college athletics, making $6.3 million in NIL money. Miami QB Carson Beck is second with a $4.3 million valuation, and Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith is third with a $4.2 million valuation.
The good news for Manning is he will have a few weeks to fine-tune his game with matchups against San Jose State (Sept. 6), UTEP (Sept. 13), and Sam Houston (Sept. 20) before his next big test against the No. 13-ranked Florida Gators on Oct. 4.
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