Fans rip Arch Manning as Texas QB struggles against unranked Florida
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Fans can be really hard, especially ones these days who love social media, and when you throw in a quarterback named Manning, then it can really get ugly.
That’s what happened on Saturday afternoon in Austin, where Arch Manning, the quarterback of No. 7 Texas, helped his team take a 17-3 lead late into the second quarter against unranked Florida. But instead of it turning into a rout or even a Longhorns victory, it turned the other way.
Florida roared back in the second half for a shocking 27-24 victory, and Manning took the brunt of the blame. His uneven play for most of Saturday’s game brought the social media folks to the forefront, as Texas suffered its second straight loss following another loss to another unranked team in Oklahoma last week.
And just when Texas looked like it might escape with a victory despite it all on Saturday, Manning fumbled the ball away to Florida on a sack with the Longhorns near midfield. It was a fitting end to a disastrous day for Manning, who was a pedestrian 14 of 20 for just 173 yards passing with 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.
Throw in that killer fumble at the end and you’ve got the recipe for a social media blitz.
Here is the fumble with 1:58 left that ended Texas’s hopes:
Here is just some of the social media outcry about a quarterback named Manning not living up to that last name:
Manning’s struggles included, Texas was in an all-out battle to get to the College Football Playoff, and Florida still had slim Playoff hopes, too, when Saturday began. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the best odds to make the 12-team field come December:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
