In his most extensive action since arriving at Texas, Arch Manning put on a show in the Orange-White game Saturday, and he didn’t take long to do it.
Manning threw a 75-yard touchdown on his first pass attempt, started 10-for-10 and finished the first half 11-for-13 for 189 yards with two touchdowns.
His first incompletion occurred with 12 seconds left in the second quarter, and his second on a throw off the hands of Isaiah Bond in the end zone.
Texas didn’t provide statistics, but according to ESPN Stats & Information, Manning finished with 355 yards and three touchdowns with one interception while completing 19 of 26 attempts. At least four of those incompletions were catchable passes.
His pocket presence and confidence was an important showing considering Quinn Ewers missed five games in the past two years, backup Maalik Murphy transferred to Duke, and Texas returns just 16% of its receiving production from last season after losing its top five pass-catchers.
Sarkisian said the plan all along was to limit Ewers to one or two series, because he is entrenched as a third-year starter after throwing for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions as Texas made the College Football Playoff.
On Saturday, Ewers’ first drive ended with defensive end Colton Vasek tipping a pass that was grabbed by defensive tackle Alfred Collins, who ran it back for a touchdown.
Ewers said after the game that he knew his time would be short.
“I know what Quinn’s about,” Sarkisian said. “Quinn’s had a great spring.”
After Manning made an appearance in just two games last season, against Texas Tech in a blowout win and in the final series of the Big 12 title game, he got a chance to take the majority of his team’s snaps in this game for the first time.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Wednesday dismissed any interest in engaging in conversations about a “super league” in college athletics, instead emphasizing his belief that “there’s a lot going right” in the current landscape.
“The fact that people have interest in throwing ideas out, that’s up to them,” Sankey told a small group of reporters following the conclusion of the annual College Football Playoff spring meetings. “I spend my time on what I have to do.”
In mid-February, the search firm TurnkeyZRG circulated a confidential proposal that included seven divisions with 10 schools each, according to a copy obtained by ESPN, but it has failed to gain serious support.
Sankey pushed back on the narrative that college sports is in a crisis, pointing to recent interest in private equity as proof that the NCAA has a valuable product.
“You can use the cliché, ‘If I was buying stock, I’d buy stock in college sports,'” he said.
“Well, apparently a lot of people believe that outside of college sports. Something’s going right.”
