Arch Manning‘s debut as No. 1 Texas‘ starting quarterback hardly lived up to the preseason hype in Saturday’s 14-7 loss to No. 3 Ohio State, and some are putting at least part of the blame for that on Steve Sarkisian. The Longhorns’ fifth-year head coach is widely considered one of the most innovative offensive play-callers […]
Arch Manning‘s debut as No. 1 Texas‘ starting quarterback hardly lived up to the preseason hype in Saturday’s 14-7 loss to No. 3 Ohio State, and some are putting at least part of the blame for that on Steve Sarkisian. The Longhorns’ fifth-year head coach is widely considered one of the most innovative offensive play-callers in college football today, but that reputation wasn’t backed up much Saturday in Columbus.
In a rare Top 3 season-opener, the reigning national champion Buckeyes frustrated the Texas offense, which outgained Ohio State 336-215 in total offense but only found the endzone once. After battling some early issues, Manning finished 17-of-30 passing for 170 yards and one touchdown to one interception.
Offensive struggles aside, Sarkisian cited Texas’ overall inexperience and general youth on the offensive side of the ball, including Manning making his third career start and four new starters along a rebuilt ‘Horns offensive line. Also not helping Sarkisian in his play-calling was an overall lack of familiarity with new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, who’s in his first season at Ohio State after spending the last two decades in the NFL.
“It wasn’t just (Manning) being young, (we’re) young on the offensive line with new faces – a new receiver, a new tight end – some (different) people playing in this environment,” Sarkisian said postgame Saturday. “So, you try to do the things that you think they do well, especially with a new defensive coordinator which we didn’t have a bunch of information on of what they were going to do (defensively) from his past and what they’ve done at Ohio State. And I thought we did that, we were maybe a little anxious early in the ball game. But to their credit, I thought we settled down.”
Overall, Sarkisian liked what he saw from the “demeanor” of the Texas offense, as well as Manning’s maturity in the moment, especially how he responded to his early struggles.
“I thought Arch’s poise and composure was really good in this game. I didn’t feel like he got rattled,” Sarkisian said of Manning. “I think I learned about him a little bit that playing that I’ve got to let him go play. So that’ll help us.”
No. 1 Texas (0-1) will return to Austin and look to get back in the win column against San Jose State at 12 noon ET next Saturday on ABC, while No. 3 Ohio State host Grambling at 3:30 pm ET Saturday on the Big Ten Network.
Category: General Sports
