Arch Manning knows exactly where the problem is. After another rough outing in Texas’ second straight come-from-ahead loss to Florida on Saturday, the senior quarterback said Monday the fix starts with a more aggressive mindset.
“I’m gonna die on the hill of, I’m letting it rip,” Manning said Monday.
That was the clearest he’s been about what’s gone wrong, and it matched the tape. Too often against the Gators, Manning looked hesitant when Texas needed him to trust the read and fire the ball. He said as much himself.
“I feel like I’ve been a little too hesitant, to be quite honest,” Manning said.
A lot of the issues showed up in the moments where Texas had a chance to stay on schedule and cash in. Early in the second quarter, Manning missed junior wide receiver Cam Coleman on a vertical shot on 3rd and 8, with junior wide receiver Emmett Mosley V opening up underneath on the out route after Manning failed to take the hitch. On another drive, Texas leaned on the screen game before Manning’s first non-screen completion came on a fake screen, helping push the ball into the red zone and setting up a 2rd and 3.
That sequence should have been a clean opportunity for Steve Sarkisian’s offense. From the 16-yard line, with the ball in the high red zone, Sarkisian dialed up a call that put Manning in position to hit a touchdown.
Instead, Manning chose a check down to senior running back Hollywood Smothers and airmailed it, turning a favorable design into a dangerous throw. Sarkisian later said on Monday he took responsibility for the call, calling his decision to roll Manning out “crummy.”
But the hesitation didn’t stop there. On 3rd and 1 from midfield in the fourth quarter, Sarkisian returned to a look he had used twice against Oklahoma, with Mosley again running the out route.
Mosley was open once more, but Manning tried to scramble into a defense that had loaded up the right side of the line, and Florida finished the play for a loss. On the next snap, a 4th and 2, Manning came off the slant to Coleman after the defender grabbed Coleman’s face mask, then got buried for a three-yard loss when he tried to take off up the middle instead of waiting for the route to develop.
The same pattern showed up on the game-sealing fumble. Mosley was open again, this time on an out route, but Manning held the ball too long in the pocket, one of several slow-developing moments that helped Florida produce five sacks.
There’s also the pre-snap layer, where Texas either isn’t giving Manning much freedom or he isn’t taking it. Sarkisian and Manning both pointed to the quarterback’s limited role in changing plays, with Manning saying, “I’m sticking with the play call,” and Sarkisian adding, “We’re not a huge just put-it-all-on-the-quarterback-to-audible [team],” before explaining that Texas does change protections and has defined run-pass and run-run checks.
Still, the result is hard to ignore. Texas doesn’t appear to be getting the same kind of value at the line of scrimmage it got before, and the offense is not consistently putting defenders in conflict the way it did with Ewers.
Even so, the reasons Texas keeps coming back to Manning are right there too. He flashed exactly the kind of talent that keeps coaches and teammates believing. Down 10 in the fourth quarter, he delivered one of the game’s biggest plays on 4th and 6 from the Texas 29, buying time in the pocket before firing a strike to Mosley for a 62-yard gain as he took a hit to the face.
That’s the version Sarkisian is chasing: not just the splash throws, but the steadier version that gets to them without the indecision in between. With Texas now on a two-game losing streak to unranked teams, the margin for that inconsistency is shrinking fast, especially with No. 7 Rebels coming to town Saturday.
Manning says Texas is ready. He says he is too.
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