Texas’ Arch Manning Receives Unfortunate Designation From ESPN

Connelly compiled a list of teams and players he can and can't trust, and Manning and the Lognhorns offense fell in the "Do Not Trust" category.

He pointed out the disappointing offensive rankings so far this season, including the following: 74th in yards per play, 88th in points per drive, 101st in success rate and 116th in percentage of plays gaining zero or negative yards.

Now, as Connelly notes, it isn't all Manning's fault, and other parts of the offense have left much more to be desired.

"The preseason Heisman favorite hasn't gotten any of the help he needed this season, and he certainly didn't in Saturday night's 16-13 win over Kentucky. His running backs averaged 3.3 yards per carry in Lexington, and his first 25 pass attempts produced just eight completions and three sacks. He did complete four straight short passes late, but Texas gained just 179 yards against a Wildcats defense that allowed 461 yards to Eastern Michigan in mid-September," he added.

But, at the end of the day, Manning has not lived up to the lofty preseason hype, and it is hard to imagine things taking a turn in the right direction at this point in the season. At some point, the Texas QB has to improve, but who knows when it will be.

 "If it [the offense] can't help Manning, and Manning can't help himself and start to improve -- a hard thing to do midstream, especially when your issues seem to be pretty fundamental things such as footwork, pocket timing and accuracy -- then how exactly does Texas end up with a playoff résumé? Things could be worse; the Horns could have easily lost to UK," Connelly added.

Texas is 5-2, but it still has to play No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Georgia on the road, and No. 3 Texas A&M before the regular season comes to an end.

So, a year after making the College Football Playoff Semifinal round, and despite Heisman Trophy buzz around Manning, things are not looking promising for this year's Longhorns team.