Buried following a brutal first half to the 2025 season, Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning has a chance to flip the narrative surrounding his first full year as a college starting quarterback over the next three games games, beginning Saturday at College Football Playoff No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (8-1, 6-1 in SEC).
His recent performances are reason for optimism.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning has quietly improved over second half of the season
Manning, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 high-school recruiting class, was widely hailed as a potential first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, but those talks quickly dimmed once Manning took the field.
Over his first five games, No. 10 Texas (7-2, 4-1 in SEC), ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP poll, went 3-2. Manning was 81-of-135 (60 percent) for 1,151 passing yards (230.2 yards per game), 16 total touchdowns and five interceptions. His numbers were far less impressive when isolating his two power conference games — losses at Ohio State and Florida. In those games, Manning completed 55.9 percent of his pass attempts for 433 yards (216.5 yards per game), three touchdowns and three interceptions.
He’s noticeably improved in the four games since — all against SEC competition. Early in the year, Manning struggled with his accuracy. Below is a reel of each of his pass attempts in the opener against Ohio State, and Manning was off-target on several throws and generally looked uneasy in the pocket. The Buckeyes defense, arguably the best in the country, played a major role in his rough game, but follow-up performances against UTEP (when Manning completed 44 percent of his passes) and Florida (when he threw two interceptions) were less forgivable.
![Penn State players, coaches describe unknown as nerve-wracking [opinion]](https://i3.wp.com/www.readingeagle.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/REG-Z-PennStateGrunkemeyer-1112-01.jpg?w=1024&h=682&ssl=1 "Penn State players, coaches describe unknown as nerve-wracking [opinion]")
