Texas came into the 2025 season riding a wave of hype. Ranked No. 1 in the country, the Longhorns were the preseason darlings, with Arch Manning at the center of it all.
But the dream start never materialized. Texas dropped its opener to Ohio State, 14-7, and a month later, a struggling 1-3 Florida team handed them a 29-21 loss.
The media reaction was swift and unforgiving-criticism poured in, much of it aimed squarely at Manning.
But for Cooper Manning, Arch’s father, the narrative missed the real story. Speaking candidly this week, Cooper offered a more grounded perspective on what actually unfolded during Texas’s 10-3 campaign. In his view, the expectations placed on this team-especially on a young quarterback-were out of sync with the reality of the roster.
“This team probably should’ve started the year ranked 20th, not No. 1,” Cooper said.
“If that’s the case, and they lose by a touchdown at Ohio State, it’s not the end of the world. But when you’re No. 1, everything gets blown up.
The fluff, the nonsense-it just feeds into all the useless banter.”
And that banter, Cooper admitted, is something he’s learned to tune out. He’s stopped reading most of the coverage surrounding his son.
“It’s liberating,” he said. “There’s a lot of people in this sports world that have opinions, and only a small portion of them are really qualified.
You’ve got to pick your spots carefully.”
From a performance standpoint, Arch Manning didn’t exactly fall flat. He threw for 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions.
He also added 399 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground-numbers that reflect a dual-threat quarterback who was far from a liability. But those stats didn’t seem to matter much in the early weeks, as the conversation quickly shifted to his NFL draft stock and whether Texas had once again underachieved.
Cooper pointed to a more nuanced explanation for the early stumbles. Texas was young-especially up front.
The offensive line dealt with significant turnover, and the receiving corps was almost entirely new. “Texas had a lot of guys, just like Arch, making their first starts,” Cooper said.
“Some guys started Week 1 and didn’t play much after that. There was just a lot of new faces across the board.”
Despite the rocky start, Texas turned things around in a big way. The Longhorns won seven of their final eight games, including marquee victories over No.
6 Oklahoma and No. 18 Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
But those wins came after the national spotlight had already dimmed. The early losses had shaped the narrative, and for many, that was the story of Texas’s season.
Now, as 2026 approaches, the spotlight is back. Texas opens the season on September 5 against Texas State, and once again, the expectations are sky-high.
That’s life when you’re a Manning playing quarterback in Austin. The pressure never really goes away-it just resets.
But if there’s one thing the 2025 season taught, it’s that context matters. And for a young quarterback leading a team full of first-time starters, growing pains were inevitable.
The question heading into 2026 isn’t whether Arch Manning can handle the pressure. It’s whether the rest of the country is ready to look past the noise and see the full picture.