There's Another Reason Not to Worry About Arch Manning's Struggles

Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns are currently 2-1 in the 2025 college football season, with a season-opening loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes and a slow game this past Saturday against the UTEP Miners bogging down a year that began with extremely high hopes.

And if anyone came into the season with equally high expectations, it was Steve Sarkisian's new sophomore quarterback, who's passing stats have not been a reflection of the Heisman Trophy hopeful that he was before the season started.

However, there was a case of this a few years ago with another notable quarterback, and he would go on to put up arguably the greatest season by a college quarterback ever the following year.

Is Arch Manning Joe Burrow 2.0?

A recent post to the Orange Bloods' official X page brought up an interesting comparison between Arch Manning and another notable quarterback, former LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow, who was selected with the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft and is now the QB1 for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9). — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws a pass in the third quarter of the NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the first three games of Burrow's 2018 season with the Tigers, accuracy was also a notable issue with the quarterback, who had transferred from Ohio State to LSU at that point in time, completing 36 of 78 passes with three touchdowns and no interceptions as LSU still went 3-0 during the stretch.

Up to this point, Manning has been more accurate with his passes, completing 46 of 85 passes thus far, which is over half and more than Burrow would have been able to attest to, and he also has thrown more touchdowns, but he's thrown three interceptions as well, three more than Burrow's stretch.

Arch Manning's Tough Start to the Season Looks Very Similar to the Start of Joe Burrow's 2018 Season 👀

Burrow Went on to Win the Fiesta Bowl and then the National Championship the Following Season 🏆 pic.twitter.com/PZbwFgigb3
— Orangebloods.com (@orangebloods_) September 17, 2025

After the 2018 LSU Tigers finished 10-3, the following season was what made the struggles all worth it for Burrow and the Tigers, with their high-powered offense that also included wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson allowing Burrow to throw for a then-record 60 touchdown passes on his way to the 2019 Heisman Trophy, and the Tiger team would enjoy a perfect 15-0 season that resulted in a 42-25 win over the Clemson Tigers in the national championship game.

And like Burrow, Manning has an elite defense to help on the opposite end of the line of scrimmage, so once his accuracy improves and he gets more reps in big-time games, the greatness that is expected of him can have a better chance of occurring.

Manning has the talent in him and around him on both sides, and an elite quarterbacking pedigree to fall back on, so who's to say that history can't repeat itself?