Paul Finebaum reacts to Arch Manning’s bounce-back performance
By Mark Kern
Published:
Paul Finebaum has been the as big of Arch Manning supporter as there has been in all of college football. His number one talking point all summer was that Manning was going to take the college football world by storm.
In Week 1, that hype train slowed down a little bit after Manning struggled in Texas’ 14-7 loss at Ohio State, where the quarterback struggled at times. He responded on Saturday with a much better performance, as he threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-7 win against San Jose State.
On The Matt Barrie Show, Finebaum was asked about what he thought of Manning in Week 2.
“Somebody asked me earlier, do I think he’s a Heisman (Trophy) candidate? I don’t think anybody can answer that,” Finebaum said. “You can say yes or no, and both answers are probably about the same because the Heisman is not going to be determined right now. But the most important thing for him is he got a good game in. He’s back to doing things that we expected of him. And ultimately, Arch is going to be tested when they have a good opponent, which they won’t for another couple of weeks. I suspect he’ll be a lot better.”
For Longhorns fans, he did exactly what was needed this week. He showed improvement, and seemed to have a better command of the offense. If there was one area of concern for Manning, it was that he did appear to grimace at times throwing the ball.
With the bounce back game will all of the hype come back? Finebaum said that Manning handled the adversity well, but there is a lot of football to be played.
“I mean, right now, when I got out of it and I’m not trying to sound like Goody Two-Shoes here, but it was fun to see him happy, exhaling, celebrating,” Finebaum said. “I mean, that is ultimately what this is about in theory. But he had a rough week. He survived it. That’s all that matters.”
The Longhorns are back in action next week at home against UTEP.
