Despite the dominant win over San Jose State, people across the country were ready to nitpick the Texas Longhorns and quarterback Arch Manning.
During the game, Manning had one pass attempt where it seemed like he pulled up on the throw slightly, even appearing to wince in pain. Of course, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked if his starting quarterback was injured.
His answer was far from ordinary.
"He doesn’t have any… I don’t know. I’ve never filmed any of you guys when you’re using the restroom. So, I don’t know what faces you make when you’re doing that," Sarkisian said.
Immediately, people hit pause and rewound the video to make sure they had heard Sark correctly. He doesn't do what? Arch winced because of that? Excuse me?
Now, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum has ripped into the Texas head coach for his answer.
"What Steve Sarkisian did this week was just so wildly weird and inappropriate," Finebaum said. "Maybe we’re too close to the sun here, but when you turn a simple question into a two or three or four-day story, you’ve made a terrible mistake. And Sarkisian is a really smooth operator. This isn’t some yokel clown who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time."
Sarkisian has been in the college football spotlight for a long time, acting as one of Nick Saban's coordinators at Alabama and as the head coach of both USC and Washington. Press conferences and media availabilities aren't new to him.
The answer was odd; there is no denying that. Why bring up filming members of the media in the restroom? Even if Manning just needed a break to run to the toilet, why share that information in that way?
Finebaum was one of Manning's biggest hype men leading up to the season, and the SEC expert has had to take a step back from the lofty expectations he set before the young quarterback.
Yes, Manning earned nearly 300 passing yards and five total touchdowns in Week 2, but it was against the San Jose State Spartans (no offense, Sparties). He struggled mightily against the Ohio State Buckeyes and still threw an interception against San Jose State that only happened because of his poor pass selection.
The good news is that, according to Sarkisian, Manning is apparently good to go for Week 3 when the Horns host the UTEP Miners.
Maybe they'll just make sure to keep a port-a-potty on the sidelines this game.