The No. 19 Texas Longhorns have their backs against the wall entering Saturday night’s showdown against the No. 7 Ole Miss Rebels.
Texas has lost back-to-back games over the last two weeks, falling to the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida Gators, both of whom were unranked at the time of the losses.
Now, Texas returns home to Austin under immense pressure, particularly on head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Arch Manning to deliver against an Ole Miss team that has proven it can hang with just about anybody in the SEC.
Manning Facing Major Development
Ahead of the matchup, ESPN’s Pete Thamel appeared on “College GameDay” and doubled down on his report earlier this week, revealing that Manning took “significantly fewer” first-team reps in practice this week while backup KJ Lacey Jr. saw an uptick.“I’m gonna die on the hill of letting it rip,” Manning said.
“Arch Manning took significantly less first-team reps with Texas’ first-team offense this week than he usually does,” Thamel said. “Let’s be clear, Steve Sarkisian does not want to replace Arch Manning as his starter. But he has started to prepare to do that if Arch Manning struggles. Backup KJ Lacey Jr. had a precipitous uptick in first-team reps.”
NEW: Arch Manning took significantly fewer first-team reps with Texas’ first-team offense this week than he typically does, ESPN reports.
Backup KJ Lacey Jr. had a precipitous uptick in first-team reps.
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This raises the question of whether Sarkisian would turn to Lacey Jr. if Manning struggles in the first half against Ole Miss. With Texas fighting to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive, another loss would make its path to the postseason significantly more difficult.
Sarkisian Says Manning Has Been ‘Edgy’
This week, Sarkisian revealed that Manning has adopted an “edgy” mindset as he looks to bounce back and silence his critics.
“I would use the word edgy, and I like it,” Sarkisian told reporters Thursday, via Inside Texas. “He’s edgy right now. And I think that somebody texted me today that we lost the ‘Aw Shucks’ kid, and we created something else. I don’t know if we lost him, we created this, we did, all of us. Y’all included me, the whole thing, right? Everybody on ESPN, we’ve created this. And so we’ll see what comes out of it. But he’s edgy right now. And honestly, I appreciate that about him. At some point, he’s gotta fight back. And the best way for him to fight back is going out and playing really good football with his teammates, and enjoy playing football with his teammates. And so I’m looking forward to watching him compete Saturday night.”
Texas QB Arch Manning Faces Major Development Before Ole Miss Game