Arch Manning was within the medical tent as soon as and on the bottom far more usually.
The Texas star endured one other troublesome day in his first full season as a starter, throwing for 263 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in a 29-21 loss at Florida on Saturday. He was sacked six occasions.
Manning grew to become the most recent inexperienced QB to sink within the Swamp. However he almost rallied the ninth-ranked Longhorns (3-2, 0-1 Southeastern Convention) down the stretch.
With Florida and coach Billy Napier milking the clock, Manning made it attention-grabbing. Thanks partly to a defensive penalty, he acquired the Longhorns into Florida territory within the waning seconds. However he threw incomplete deep after which was sacked once more to shut out the sport.
It was a becoming finish for a man who was hurried and harassed all afternoon. He suffered “a stinger” to his shoulder at one level and acquired checked out on the sideline.
“He did take some hits,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian mentioned. “I assumed Arch competed rather well. He battled his butt off. … I’m certain there’s going to performs he’s going to have a look at on the movie and say he wished he may have again that we thought we had going.
“However I assumed he battled and competed.”
Manning accomplished 16 of 29 passes, with a protracted of 43 yards to DeAndre Moore Jr. He additionally missed Ryan Wingo and others deep. However he made a number of performs along with his toes, scrambling 9 occasions for a team-high 74 yards.
“You noticed in the present day how gifted the man is,” Napier mentioned. “That’s the man I keep in mind from highschool. Elite arm expertise, clearly the soccer IQ is there, and he’s a heck of an athlete. That’s what I remembered in highschool.
“We knew getting into if we acquired out of our rush lanes, the man may make us pay, and he did that.”
However the Gators (2-3, 1-1) picked off two of Manning’s passes within the fourth quarter with Texas chasing factors. Jordan Castell acquired one, and Devin Moore the opposite.
“Whenever you suppose you’ve acquired him, you don’t acquired him,” Moore mentioned. “He can roll out, make performs.”
Florida made extra and handed Manning his second loss in as many highway begins. Manning has thrown not less than one interception in 4 of 5 begins in 2025.
And he’s simply starting a frightening stretch away from house that features the Purple River Rivalry subsequent week towards No. 5 Oklahoma and highway video games towards Kentucky and Mississippi State.
“That is the place you discover out concerning the tradition that you’ve,” Sarkisian mentioned. “We’ve acquired to get tighter than we’ve ever been. We’re going to need to quiet the noise as a result of there might be loads of noise popping out of this recreation.”
One apparent takeaway: Texas acquired whipped on each traces of scrimmage. The Horns ran for 52 yards regardless of getting Quintrevion Wisner again for the primary time because the opener. Wisner ran eight occasions for 11 yards and a landing.
“We’ve acquired to enhance that,” Sarkisian mentioned. “We simply can’t be a one-dimensional group. When guys can simply begin speeding the passer and never worrying concerning the run, the sport will get actually troublesome. We’ve acquired to discover a approach to generate some run recreation and generate some run recreation outdoors of Arch. We’ve acquired to seek out it with the runners.”
