Texas coach sets record straight on Arch Manning injury rumors

Manning himself shut down any talk of his being injured, chalking up the facial expressions to dissatisfaction with his throws.

“No, no. I got to make that throw. He was open. Ran a good dig route, so I got to make that throw,” he said.

That online discourse also included plenty of criticism for his throwing motion and overall mechanics, but it was still a far better performance than he had last week.

Coming off a meager showing in a seven-point loss at Ohio State in Week 1, Manning looked better in the Longhorns’ home opener, a 38-7 win over San Jose State.

The quarterback completed 19 of his 30 pass attempts for 295 yards and four touchdowns, running for another score and tossing just one interception.

Manning was on the receiving end of plenty of criticism after passing for just 170 yards and completing under 57 percent of his throws against Ohio State’s defense.

But even with that improvement, Manning said he wasn’t satisfied.

“Once again, not very good. We’ve got to clean up a lot of things,” he said.

“Some guys made plays, which is good, but overall it was a little sloppy... I thought I made more plays and attacked more, but it was still sloppy all around.”

His head coach was more pleased.

“He had a really good game today,” Sarkisian said of Manning’s play afterwards.

“He took advantage of some throws down the field. Lesson learned on a protection breakdown, forcing the ball, but we’re going to have some of those growing pains. I thought he used his legs well, scored a touchdown, threw it downfield, and created some explosive plays.”

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