Former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach-turned-college football commentator Urban Meyer was very clear in the lead-up to the Week 1 clash between the Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns that Arch Manning was receiving too much hype.
It wasn’t because Meyer didn’t believe in Manning either. Simply, the former head coach felt that the young quarterback needed time to develop and prove himself before he was crowned as the next GOAT.
As it turns out, Meyer’s intuition about Manning was right, too. The nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning struggled against Ohio State in a 14-7 loss.
He looked nothing like the Heisman-hopeful quarterback that he was billed to be all offseason, but now, after the game, Meyer is defending the Texas quarterback.
Just like how he may have been overhyped by the media before he even took a snap in 2025, Meyer believes Manning is now getting too much negative press for Texas’ season-opening loss.
Urban Meyer defends Texas QB Arch Manning
“Well the reality is that the quarterbacks get far too much credit and far too much blame,” Meyer said on a recent appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” (h/t On3). “There weren’t people open, Colin. The maturation of the Buckeye defense, I don’t want to say I was shocked, because they lost five or six players and a coordinator and they looked phenomenal.”