COLUMBUS, Ohio — Texas’ Arch Manning came into Saturday’s opener at Ohio State with a lot of expectations to live up to.
The much-hyped sophomore took the top-ranked team on the road to face the defending national champions. Add into that being the consensus early Heisman Trophy favorite, it was no wonder that some nicknamed the Longhorns preseason “Arch Madness.”
Manning struggled under the weight of heady expectations for three quarters. He nearly led Texas back in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough as the Longhorns lost to the third-ranked Buckeyes 14-7.
“The expectations were out of control on the outside, but I’d say let’s finish the book before we judge it,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “This is one chapter, and we got a long season to go play.”
Manning accounted for 208 yards of total offense. He completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards along with 10 rushing attempts for 38 yards.
Manning was 9 of 15 for 38 yards and an interception in the first three quarters. After Texas fell behind 14-0, he completed 8 of 15 for 132 yards and a touchdown, including a 32-yard touchdown pass to Parker Livingstone in the fourth quarter.
“We made some adjustments on half. They’re a good team. They’ve got a bunch of good players, obviously. They’re the reigning champs. But I thought we could have played better, and I could have played a lot better,” he said.
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What did Manning and the Longhorns in was converting only 1 of 5 fourth-down opportunities.
Two of the stops came in the red zone, including a fourth-and-goal at the Ohio State 1-yard line midway through the third quarter when Manning was stuffed on a QB sneak for no gain.
“Anytime there’s fourth and inches at the goal line, we’ve got to have those. I got to make more of a push because that was a big swing,” Manning said.
Manning also got to experience something his uncles Peyton and Eli knew all too well — being stymied by a Matt Patricia defense. The Longhorns averaged 4.5 yards per rushing attempt, and moved the ball well between the 20’s, but they couldn’t execute on a short field.
Manning’s only interception — although he had a second one overturned — also proved costly. With three minutes left in the third quarter, he was late on a pass intended for Ryan Wingo and it was picked off by Ohio State cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. at the Buckeyes 27 and returned for 5 yards. Seven plays later, Julian Sayin threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate to put Ohio State up 14-0 early in the fourth quarter.
It was Manning’s first loss as a starting quarterback. He saw action in 12 games last season, including a pair of starts.
Despite the loss, Sarkisian said there were things he learned about Manning that will serve him well the rest of the season.
“Arch’s poise and composure was really good this game,” Sarkisian said. “I didn’t feel like he got rattled. I’ve got to let him go play, and so that’ll help us.
“He gets hit a couple of times. It helps him. Maybe, incorporate a little more of his run stuff earlier in the game, where we waited a little bit into the second half. I think when that happened, I felt like he started really playing and we saw some real flashes and glimpses of the type of player that he’s going to become here.”
