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Arch Manning falls flat again as Texas continues to struggle against G5 defenses

Manning and Texas' offense already appears to be in shambles, and we haven't even made it to SEC play yet.
ByMatthew Wilson|
Texas football player, Arch Manning, stands on the field during warm up before a game against UTEP at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.
Texas football player, Arch Manning, stands on the field during warm up before a game against UTEP at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. | Gaby Velasquez / El Paso Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Once again, Arch Manning and Texas' offense struggled to find a rhythm against an inferior opponent in week 3. Though he's able to scramble around and make plays with his legs on a fairly consistent basis, his passing ability leaves more than just "a lot" to be desired.

Manning's stat line against UTEP:

11/25, 114 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 9 rush attempts, 51 rushing yards, 2 TD

Not only did he complete just 40% of his passes on the day, but the ones that he did complete looked incredibly sloppy. He was consistently throwing behind receivers for the majority of the game and continues to have an issue with his overall mechanics as well.

One of his first "big" misses of the day was when the Longhorns were at UTEP's 45-yard line, and Ryan Wingo was streaking wide open across the middle at the 30. Manning somehow managed to throw the ball 2-3 yards behind Wingo despite being in an excellent throwing window with limited pressure. There were a handful of mind-blowingly bad throws like this throughout the 1st and 2nd quarter.

Plays like this will get you booed out of the stadium, which is exactly what happened at halftime.

The most concerning part of his embarrassing performance was that his incompletions were almost completely his fault, not just a matter of defenders making good plays throughout the game. Manning's accuracy appears to be somehow getting worse every week in the intermediate game as well.

He can't be having the types of miscues that he currently is on simple, 10-yard "pitch and catch" type throws.

It seems like he's trying too hard or something to make big plays every week. Manning needs to take what the defense gives him in certain situations and recognize when he needs to just throw the ball away.

Here's a perfect example of this situation against UTEP, this ball should've been thrown away as he was streaking back across the field:

At this point, saying that "he needs to figure it out before Texas enters SEC play" has become an overused cliche because nothing appears to be getting better. While other teams with a lower talent level than Texas are blowing out G5 schools by 40+ each week, the Longhorns continue to scrape by.

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