If Arch Manning were having a better season, his game-winning touchdown pass with three seconds left in Texas‘ 22-21 win at LSU on Saturday night could have been his Heisman moment. There probably won’t be a Heisman ceremony coming for Manning next month, but there will be plenty to anticipate.
Because of his 4-yard touchdown strike to Raleek Brown, there will almost certainly be a playoff game in Manning’s future. A Heisman moment? No, but a signature moment? Absolutely.
Two months after leading a historic rally to beat No. 1 Ohio State, Manning showed the clutch gene once again. No one knew for sure if he still had it.
When Texas beat the Buckeyes, the world was at Manning’s fingertips. He was expected to be one of the best quarterbacks in college football. Though he struggled against Ohio State, the 20-point comeback he led only heightened the hype surrounding him as the 2026 season ramped up.
It was off to the races, and it wasn’t hard to envision Manning rising to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. A storybook year seemed to be developing.
Maybe it still is — just after some twists and turns. Manning said something dumb at a press conference. There have been poor performances, and there were even suggestions from Texas coach Steve Sarkisian that Manning’s starting job could be in jeopardy.
The Longhorns dropped from No. 1 to No. 19 with consecutive losses to unranked opponents. All that happened and altered the perception of who Manning is as a player and how good Texas truly is as a team. But what’s a good storybook without some drama?
At 8-2 (5-2 SEC), the Longhorns have taken their lumps, and they still have a ton of offensive issues. But they are nearing lock status for the CFP. Even a 1-1 closing record against league bottom-dwellers Arkansas and Texas A&M will probably do the trick. With a growing resume of high-end victories, the Longhorns are in great shape.
So is Manning. On Saturday night, he began blazing the trail for wherever this winding college career of his is ultimately going to take us. His touchdown throw to Brown mitigated a game full of frustrating moments and bought him time to make the next turn in the journey a good one.
In many ways, Manning’s LSU performance was a microcosm of his season. It started great. Manning finished an 11-play opening drive with a touchdown run. Then, it went in a bad direction. Manning threw three interceptions, marking his third multi-interception game of the season. He finished just 19-of-35 for 174 yards and was sacked four times.
But just when everybody was ready to count Manning and the Longhorns out, he found a way to deliver. He was ecstatic after finding Brown for the game-winning score, and rightfully so. The jubilation rivaled that which he displayed after the Ohio State win.
After all of Texas’ struggles, this one may have actually meant more in certain ways.
This time, we know what to expect. Since Week 2, Manning has shown us he’s not the all-time great college quarterback it was easy to assume he would become. He is a flawed player who keeps making the same mistakes.
If Manning — now in his fourth year of college football — is still inaccurate over the middle, still gets happy feet in the pocket and still throws too many YOLO deep balls, he’ll probably never change.
Hopefully expectations have. Manning may not be in New York next month. But he will be in the College Football Playoff, and after what he did against LSU, it will be worth tuning in for the final episodes of his 2026 saga.
