AUSTIN (KXAN) — Arch Manning and Steve Sarkisian both know that Saturday’s performance against UTEP isn’t going to cut it when Texas meets Florida on Oct. 4 in the Southeastern Conference opener. They have three weeks to figure out how to be better.
Manning completed 11 of 25 passes for 114 yards with a touchdown and an interception against the Miners, and that kind of stat line against a Group of 5 team won’t inspire a lot of hope with fans, fair or not. More than 102,000 fans packed DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, hoping to see a blowout and some offensive fireworks, and instead, they booed the player whom they once cheered the loudest for when he entered the game off the bench.
He had a stretch of 10 consecutive incomplete passes in the first half before hitting right end Jordan Washington for an 11-yard gain, setting up Manning’s second rushing touchdown of the game just before halftime. He’s shown flashes of great play, but as is the case with many young quarterbacks, the consistency isn’t there yet.
Sarkisian said after the game that it will get there.
“I feel like we’ve done enough with him to have a pretty good understanding of who he is as a player and what he’s capable of. I know there’s a lot of football in there that’s high level, quality football,” Sarkisian said. “Is my expectation of him as a player high? Yes. Do I expect him to play the best football of his career in the first three games of the season? Probably not, and that probably wouldn’t be fair, but our job as coaches is to work him toward that so he continually improves throughout the season.”
Manning struggled early, missing open receivers and throwing incompletions on passes that most quarterbacks would complete with relative ease. He said it was frustrating, and he needs to work through how to manage that feeling better when things aren’t going his way. He’s self-aware enough to know that, and he’s pledged to be better.
“I’ve gotta get back to basics,” he said. “Finishing throws, getting my hips through, and focusing on it throughout the week of practice. Just letting it rip in the game. I know I’m better than this, and it’ll be hard to sleep tonight, but I’ll be back rolling. That’s the only thing I can do.”
From a physical standpoint, Manning is fine. There was media speculation about a potential injury after he grimaced following a throw against San Jose State, but both Manning and Sarkisian quickly shot that down. His issue against the Miners wasn’t his shoulder — it was between his ears, Sarkisian said.
“I would probably say for the most part, it’s all mental, right? It’s trust, belief, confidence, all of those things that play into it,” Sarkisian said. “His ability to move on to the next play is, I think, something that we’ve got to continue to work on and not harbor the last plays. We know what it is. It’s tangible, and we can get it done.”
Texas plays its final home game of the nonconference schedule at 7 p.m., Sept. 20, against Sam Houston State. After that, they won’t play at DKR until Nov. 1 against Vanderbilt.
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