ESPN Analyst's Arch Manning Take Is Lazy At Best

Booger McFarland believes Arch Manning has been disappointing for the Texas Longhorns, and he couldn't be more wrong.

Oct 25, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) passes the ball during the fourth quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns continue to turn their season around and are now in control of their own destiny in the second half of the season. Part of their success this season continues to be quarterback Arch Manning, who continues to develop his abilities as the season progresses.

Now, as the Longhorns hit the road to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in their biggest game to date, ESPN's Booger McFarland has issued a challenge to the Longhorns' signal-caller, wanting to see more consistency and see 'what he can do'.

The problem with that, though, is that Manning has been Texas' best offensive player and exactly himself since the Sam Houston State win, when he flexed on a defender in the end zone. The path for a Longhorns victory over the Bulldogs isn't Manning doing more; it's him continuing what he has been doing.

Manning Is Where He Needs To Be

Nov 1, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) looks to pass on the first play of the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Through nine games this season for the Longhorns, Manning has a 62.7 percent accuracy with 2,123 yards and 18 touchdowns. Throughout that, Manning has dealt with adversities, including injuries to his receiving core, an offensive line struggling to find consistency, and a running game that left the offense one-dimensional at times.

“Will the real Arch please stand up?” McFarland said on SportsCenter Wednesday, “I haven’t seen it consistently all season long. I saw spurts of it against Mississippi State, but I want to see Arch Manning come out – everybody in America’s going to be watching you and I, Kev. There’s going to be 10, 12, 15 million people watching this game. And I want Arch Manning to have a really good performance because we came into this season saying he was the next one."

“He’s disappointed so far, but now, he gets the spotlight to himself, and I want to see what Arch Manning’s going to do. This is going to be a fun game to watch.”

Even with what has been deemed his struggles this season, the idea that they are manufactured by the same people who hyped him up, the media, is a possibility. His 62.7 percent completion rate is higher than Taylen Green (62.4), Bear Bachmeier (62.3), and Marcel Reed (62.3), all quarterbacks praised for their play this season.

All of those quarterbacks are within 250 passing yards of each other, yet Manning is the one questioned about his play this season, and not at his own fault. He has accounted for 67 percent of the offense (2,326 yards of 3,433) and 16 percent of all rushing yards (203 of 1,218), while playing on the road at some of the most hostile environments in the country.

Not to mention, it seems as though McFarland hasn't watched Manning over the last two weeks, in which he combined for 674 yards and six touchdowns, with one interception (that wasn't his fault) on 68.3 percent passing.

The 'spurts' against Mississippi State, by the way, included leading a 17-point comeback in the fourth quarter - the biggest comeback for Texas since 2007 - and throwing for a career-high 346 yards.

It also seems as though McFarland ignored the Oklahoma game, where he guided the Longhorns to a dominant win with timely throw after timely throw.

And the Florida game, in which he was the only Longhorns offensive player who seemed to come to play that day, nearly led them back from a 22-7 deficit, and he threw for 263 yards and two scores, despite being pressured on 35 of his 42 drop-backs, and being sacked six times.

Instead, it seems McFarland is just hanging onto and pushing an old national narrative that even some of the biggest Manning detractors have begun to move away from.

That is simply lazy and downright unfair to Manning, who has been the Longhorns' best player on offense from Day 1 of the season and has led them to a 7-2 record, a top-10 ranking, and dominant wins over two top-10 teams.

The Longhorns will be put to the test as they travel to take on the Bulldogs on Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. CT in a game that will set the tone for the rest of the season, with the Texas A&M Aggies on the horizon.