Paul Finebaum admits he’s ‘guiltier than anyone’ for Arch Manning hype machine
By Mark Kern
Published:
Paul Finebaum spent the summer on ESPN telling anybody who would listen how Arch Manning and Texas were about able to take the college football world by storm.
Before the Longhorns’ game against Ohio State on Saturday, Finebaum even said Manning was the best player the sport has seen since Tim Tebow.
So, it was a particularly tough look for Finebaum when Manning ended up struggling mightily against the Buckeyes, finishing with just 170 yards and an interception in the 14-7 defeat.
On Sunday, Finebaum admitted that he was “guiltier than anyone” for the sky-high expectations placed on Manning’s shoulders ahead of the season.
“Listen, I will take whatever blame comes my way,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “What happens, is we buy into a narrative. We feed it and what is really interesting Matt, forget what I say or you or any other pundit, Vegas is also culpible here. They made him the favorite to win the Heisman. When you throw out a hot take and you look at Vegas and go ‘they’ve got to know something’, it just feeds into the frenzy.”
For Manning, it was his first career road start. To make your first road start in Columbus is a tall task for any quarterback. At times on Saturday, the third-year passer showed his potential. However, there were too many times where he had receivers running open and he couldn’t make the connection.
In today’s college football, a Week 1 loss at the defending national champion isn’t going to doom a team. The Longhorns are still considered one of the favorites to make it to the College Football Playoff. They even remained at No. 1 in ESPN’s recently-updated FPI ratings. Manning will have a chance to make his mark in several other big games this year.
The Longhorns are back in action next week against San Jose State, and will look to bounce back from a disappointing Week 1.
