Texas may be headed into 2026 with the kind of offensive setup that finally lets Arch Manning take over.
Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns are carrying massive expectations into the season, and those expectations only grew after last year’s failure to reach the College Football Playoffs despite opening the year as the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The offense never really found its footing, even with Manning at quarterback, and the first months of the season made it easy for critics to pin the struggles on the highly touted signal-caller.
That read missed the bigger picture. Texas had issues up front and couldn’t consistently run the ball, which dragged the whole operation down.
Manning took heat anyway, but the numbers from the back half of the season tell a different story. According to PFF, four of his five best games came over the final seven weeks of the year.
He kept improving while the offense around him was still dealing with the same problems that showed up early.
Now the Longhorns are bringing him back with a better grasp of Sarkisian’s system and a much stronger supporting cast. Cam Coleman gives Texas one of the best receivers in the country.
Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown form a dangerous backfield duo. And the offensive line includes projected NFL Draft picks.
That combination points to a simple next step: put more on Manning’s plate.
With another year in the system, he should be trusted to do more at the line of scrimmage and to steer the offense when defenses start loading up to take away Texas’ strengths. If someone gets left unaccounted for, the Longhorns have the kind of talent to make teams pay. And when a play breaks down, Manning has already shown he can extend it and turn trouble into something productive.
That’s why 2026 feels like the year Texas can finally let him run the show.
In Other News...
New Manning QB Twist Could Catch Ole Miss Fans Attention
The Manning quarterback pipeline is adding another layer, and this one starts at Baylor School in Tennessee, where Marshall Manning is set to begin his high school career in a familiar family spotlight. Baylor coach Erik Kimrey has already confirmed the arrangement for the upcoming season, and it puts Marshall in a program with a quarterback room that already has a clear front-runner.
Ahead of him is Keegan Croucher, a highly regarded 2027 recruit and Ole Miss commit, which gives the Rebels another reason to keep an eye on what happens in Chattanooga. For Texas fans, the Manning name always carries extra weight, and this latest twist is a reminder that the familys next chapter may unfold a little differently than some expected. [Read more 🡒]
Urban Meyer Weighs In As Arch Manning Debate Heats Up
Urban Meyer stepped into the Arch Manning conversation this week, and his point was less about the quarterback himself than the environment around him. After Texas opened the season with a loss to Ohio State, Manning drew plenty of criticism, but Meyer pushed back by stressing that quarterback play is tied closely to the talent and support around it. He pointed to the broader reality that the best seasons at the position usually come when a passer has strong teammates helping to make the offense work.
For Texas, that matters because the opener quickly became a referendum on Manning instead of a full look at what went wrong. Meyer noted that the Longhorns receivers struggled in the game, which helped shape the harsh reaction to the quarterback, and his comments served as a reminder that one player rarely carries the whole story. The debate around Manning is not going away anytime soon, but the larger question for Texas is how much of the early criticism belongs to him and how much belongs to the offense around him. [Read more 🡒]
Sean Miller Has Texas Back In The Top 10 Conversation
Sean Miller has already put Texas back into the kind of preseason conversation the program expects to occupy, and the roster-building has matched the buzz. A Sweet 16 run gave the Longhorns a springboard, and the follow-up work has been strong enough to keep them in the national picture even before a game is played, with an early SportsCenter NEXT ranking showing just how high the ceiling looks.
Jon Rothsteins preseason top 45 for 2026-27 had Texas sitting ninth, a spot that keeps the Longhorns in the upper tier of the sport and right in the mix among the SECs best. The schedule will offer an early test of whether that respect holds up, with the Rady Childrens Invitational on the front end and the SEC-ACC Challenge waiting later in the season against Louisville and Memphis. [Read more 🡒]