Has Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning Been Set Up to Fail by Mass Media?

As Brooks Austin of the Film Guy Network discussed the incredible expectations placed on Manning by the media and how the coverage can be detrimental to the young quarterback.

"99.9 percent of college football fans who don't root for Texas want this dude to fail because I do think he has been set up for failure," Austin said. "I think he has been set up for the entire world to dislike him because all we've been told...is this guy is God's gift to football".

One of the biggest proponents of the Manning "hype train" has been longtime ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum, who, across the entire offseason, has been at the forefront of the Manning praise, calling the quarterback "the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006," among other predictions.

"[Manning] is going to be the most dynamic quarterback we have seen, perhaps, in a generation," Finebaum said via Instagram earlier this week.

Manning Tries to Block out the Noise

As much has been said about Manning and what other people expect about his first year as a starter, especially predicting him as a frontrunning candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Manning understands that he has to go and prove his talent on the field rather than through words, as he spoke about at SEC Media Days.

"I'm not really sure how they got these opinions because I've only played in, what? Two games?" Manning said. "I guess it's nice of them to say, but it doesn't mean anything. Talk is cheap, I've got to go prove it."

Manning gets to put his own words into action when the Longhorns open the season with a road trip up to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes, in a No. 1 vs. No. 3 matchup on Aug. 30 at 11 a.m. on FOX.