Paul Finebaum calls out Arch Manning for ‘disgraceful performance’ against Oklahoma
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Paul Finebaum took apart Arch Manning on Monday morning for his shoddy performance on Saturday afternoon.
The much-hyped Texas quarterback wasn’t up to par in the Red River Rivalry, throwing 2 interceptions in the shocking 27-24 loss to unranked Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl. Yes, it was a team loss, as all losses are, but Manning gets a ton of attention because of his last name and Finebaum wasn’t going to hold back during his appearance on ESPN’s First Take.
The Longhorns’ loss bumped Texas out of the No. 1 ranking, taking them all the way down to No. 7 in this week’s AP Poll, and Finebaum was putting a lot of the blame on the quarterback who wasn’t supposed to lose to a 2-2 Sooners team that limped into Dallas.
“Arch Manning gave you that game,” said Finebaum, referring to Manning’s mistakes handing the game to Oklahoma. “I don’t want to take anything away from Oklahoma. … But Arch’s performance was simply inexcusable. For someone who has gone through what he has gone through and gotten the praise and gotten everything that he has gotten, that was just a disgraceful performance. He just threw the game away two different times.
“When he is good, he is unbelievable. But when he is bad, he is pedestrian. There are so many questions I have not only about the future of this season but about his future in the NFL, should he come out, shouldn’t he, I don’t know.”
Manning completed 19 of 31 passes for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns on Saturday against OU, but those 2 interceptions were killers, and Finebaum took Manning to task 2 days later.
Here was his complete rant on Manning as Texas tries to pick up the pieces in Week 7:
With the Oklahoma disaster in the rear-view mirror, Manning and the Horns will now focus on trying to beat Florida in Austin this Saturday (noon ET, ABC). Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about Texas’s chances to bounce back and beat the Gators in Week 7:
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.
