Texas vs. UL-Monroe: Final odds and prediction

The atmosphere should be electric at DKR in Austin for the first career start tonight in primetime for redshirt freshman Arch Manning at quarterback for No. 1 Texas football. Manning and Texas are set to square off against the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks in the final non-conference game of the regular season under the lights at DKR on Saturday night.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian said Manning will make the first start of his collegiate career this weekend against ULM, after redshirt junior starting quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered an abdominal strain last weekend in the win at home over the UTSA Roadrunners. Ewers suffered the abdominal injury early in the second quarter when Texas was up against UTSA.

Manning was impressive, effectively leading the Longhorns' offense with precise and on-time throws and the dual-threat ability using his legs as a weapon. He completed 75 percent of his pass attempts for 223 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, and 53 net rushing yards with one rushing touchdown.

The highlighting play for Manning in the ground game was an explosive 67-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter against UTSA.

ULM has a tall task against a Texas squad that, while banged up, has handily defeated its three opponents by a combined score of 139-19. Texas also has yet to allow an opponent to score double digit points in a game at DKR this season.

Here's a look at the final betting odds and game prediction as No. 1 Texas faces UL-Monroe at home at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX, on Sep. 21 at 7 p.m. CT.

Texas football vs. ULM odds

Texas is a 44.5-point favorite against ULM a few hours before kickoff in Week 4. And the Longhorns are favored heavily in the money line (-50000) over the Warhawks (+4000), per FanDuel. The over/under is 53.5 points.

Texas football vs. ULM prediction

If the Longhorns can get an early jump on the Warhawks run-heavy offense in the first half of this game, the crowd and the sideline will be energized and Texas can start to really take things over from the start. Manning's talent and ability to run Sarkisian's offense at a high level, with all the weapons surrounding him tooo, showed out when he had a big outing against UTSA last weekend with nearly 300 total yards and five touchdowns accounted for.

But Sarkisian and the Longhorns aren't letting the hype from the fans and national media headlines breach the walls of their locker room and inside the program this week. Sarkisian said that Manning is handling the spotlight well ahead of his first career start in Week 4.

"Arch is just another guy on our team. And the reason I’m able to do that is because that’s who Arch is every day. He’s a selfless teammate. He cares about the guys on the team. He cares about Quinn. They’ve got a great relationship. He works his tail off. He wants to play good football for them because he knows how hard everybody’s working."

- Steve Sarkisian on Arch Manning

While ULM does bring a solid ground game with multiple options in the backfield in their RB rotation, and they have a quality duo of downhill linebackers manning the front seven, Texas should be able to overwhelm them in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Texas also has too many weapons Manning can get the ball to on the outside and out of the backfield for ULM to hang around.

Final score prediction: Texas-51, ULM-6

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