Arch Manning Poised for Bounce Back?

 As Labor Day Monday hit, so did a new week. The Longhorns are officially past the disappointing 14-7 loss to Ohio State in the season opener, or at least they should be, and they’re shifting their focus to San Jose State.

Although the entire team will need to regroup and improve upon mistakes committed in the previous game, there’s a certain someone who will need a turnaround performance in order to resecure trust and confidence from the coaches and fans.

That certain someone is quarterback Arch Manning. The only way to describe Manning’s performance on Saturday is: not good.

The preseason Heisman favorite entered the game on Saturday with confidence, stating before the season that the team believed they did not have the target on their backs, but instead had a “red dot on everyone else’s.”

Well, it seemed as though that may have been some false confidence, considering that he entered halftime with only five completions on 10 attempts and only 26 passing yards. Later in the third quarter, he threw an interception as well.

For the majority of the game, he did not look comfortable, even when he wasn’t under pressure from the defensive lineman. It simply looked as though the Ohio State defense confused him and had him mentally rattled.

But the time to dwell on the negativity is over. He’s here to stay, and he is the Longhorns QB1.

This loss will only lead to improvements, and Manning has all the pieces he needs to be successful in the future. From the OL to the WRs to Sarkisian and OC Kyle Flood, Manning has the people around him to push him to become better.

He now knows what it’s like to lose a big game, and he now knows what it’s going to be like when he’s facing a team as high-caliber as Ohio State, and this will only prepare him to be better for upcoming games like top-5 Georgia.

An interesting statistic that some fans need to consider is how well his uncle, Peyton Manning, performed in his first start against a top-10 team. When Peyton first faced a top-10 team in No. 10-ranked Alabama, he threw just 10-18 for 138 yards and 2 INTs. And everybody knows just how great a player Peyton turned out to be.

Even legendary quarterback Tom Brady chimed in on Manning’s performance, offering words of encouragement for the young quarterback on the Pro Football Focus podcast on Sunday.

“Even though he didn’t have his best game today and they lost, if he uses that to his advantage, he’s going to be tougher for it,” Brady said. “He’s going to have a better next game because of it.”

That “next game” will be against San Jose State on Saturday, when the Longhorns return to DKR. The Spartans are part of the Mountain West conference and are currently 0-1 after losing to Central Michigan at home. So, Manning should be able to dominate the Spartans’ defense and hopefully regain some confidence after what should be a win in Austin.