Does Texas QB Arch Manning deserve all the hype?

Sarah Brown

Arch Manning after loss to Ohio State in season opener.

As the 2025-2026 college football season starts back up, there has been a lot of talk surrounding new players, current coaches and revamped teams, all in an effort to predict who will take home the National Championship Trophy. Among all of these discussions, one name has appeared more than any of the others by far: Arch Manning, the newest first-string quarterback for The University of Texas at Austin. 

The Weight of the Manning Name

Before his career even started, Arch was destined to have a target on his back inside the world of football due to his last name. The Manning family is football royalty. The legacy began with Arch’s grandfather, Archie Manning, a College Football Hall of Famer and celebrated NFL quarterback. Archie’s three sons, Eli, Cooper, and Peyton Manning then each followed in his footsteps by entering into the sport. Cooper, Arch’s father, had his time as a wide receiver cut short before college due to spinal stenosis. However, Eli and Peyton both went on to have outstanding careers in college and the NFL as brilliant quarterbacks, cemented by their multiple Super Bowl wins.   As Arch begins the third generation of players within the legendary Manning family, many expect him to further solidify the talent dynasty that this family has been throughout the years. 

A Rocky Start in Austin

Before coming to Texas, Arch was the top-rated high school quarterback in the country and the nation’s top recruit, all of these factors culminating in extremely positive publicity around Arch, the majority of fans going as far as to say that he was a favorite for the Heisman Award. Much excitement surrounded his first game starting for Texas against defending the national champions, Ohio State University. Many were expecting a blowout for the Longhorns against the Buckeyes; however the game ended with Ohio State winning 14-7. This outcome dismayed some fans, as Arch finished the game with 17 out of 30 passes completed with 170 yards, and one interception, a shakier performance than many had predicted. The overall attitude in the media started to shift after this match, with commentators and fans beginning to criticize Arch by saying that he was overrated as a quarterback and he wasn’t up to par with the attention he had received previously. In the next few games that followed, viewers continued to criticize his performance as they thought he should be putting up more points against lower-level teams that Texas was facing off against, such as their game against San Jose State University, where they won 38-7, and their game against the University of Texas at El Paso, which they won 27-10. The general consensus among those following along seems to be that if he cannot blow these unranked teams out of the water right now, then when Texas plays more challenging football schools, it will not be pretty. This has led to many complaints about Arch and the team as a whole throughout the season, with some even calling for a quarterback change. 

Fair Expectations or Too Much Pressure?

So the big question this season has been, “Does Arch Manning deserve the hype that he once had at the beginning of the season, and can he still be considered a Heisman favorite?” To answer this, we must put a few things into perspective, the first being the level of praise he had received prior to starting for Texas. The sheer amount of acclaim that he had been receiving was absolutely insane for someone who had never played a full game as a first-string quarterback at the college level. Ultimately, it was pretty unfair to begin with that there were major predictions about his expected winnings without ever seeing him compete in this position before. So, in all, no one deserves that level of hype without showing some skills first. However, this doesn’t immediately write him off as a bad quarterback for Texas, or that he is not capable of a Heisman at some point in time. If anything, it just shows that patience is key for fans and that this amount of pressure should not be placed on one individual among a team with a roster of 105 players. Texas’ recent missteps on the field cannot all be blamed solely on Arch, as the team tackles the inevitable learning curve that comes with a new quarterback. The offensive line for the Longhorns has been subpar at best this year, many summing this up to the fact that the team lost four starting o-line members to the draft this year. This issue became especially visible when the team played the University of Florida, where Florida’s defense recorded 6 sacks against Arch, who received 58% pressure on his dropbacks, an extremely high and alarming rate. When a team performs poorly, it is rarely due to one person’s mistakes but rather a multitude of issues in various areas that could use improvement. Overall, only time will tell what Arch does for Texas and if the Longhorns can rally together for the rest of the season.