How to Lose a Manning in 10 Days: Arch is definitely flipping to Tennessee now
By John Buhler
Over the course of the last week and change, the perfect storm is brewing to get Arch Manning to flip from Texas to say … Tennessee.
Arch Manning flipping from Texas to Tennessee still feels like a pipe dream, but the last week or so has turned that fictitious nightmare for Austinites into a potential reality for the Rocky Top faithful.
Here is how to lose a Manning in 10 days…
Manning flipping from Texas to Tennessee would be like the Atlanta Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51. But you know what? It did happen, and it sucked for yours truly. From fellow sports catastrophe sufferers out there, I don’t wish for this to happen to you, UT, but I’m gonna get right in the middle of this storm a-brewing, Jim Cantore style.
When alright, alright, alright becomes aight … here you go, bro.
How to lose a Manning in 10 days: The perfect storm brewing to get Arch to flip
With Texas falling to 5-3 in Steve Sarkisian’s second year at the helm, the Longhorns aren’t going to Arlington this season and they are not going to a New Year’s Six bowl. Furthermore, they still need to win one more game to achieve sacred bowl eligibility. They are going to do that, but it is about finishing, something Sarkisian’s teams do not do and why Scott Frost is out at Nebraska…
In that road loss to the Pokes, Texas could not find the end zone at all in the second half. A bad fourth quarter by Texas allowed Oklahoma State to come back and avoid humiliation at home. More importantly, the consistently inconsistent Spencer Sanders outdueled the mighty Quinn Ewers throughout. The mullet-ed one completed 38 percent of his passes and threw three picks.
The reason that is significant is we gained even more evidence that Ewers is not going pro after next year. I mean, he could, but that would be Johnny Manziel-level stupidity. Ewers has talent, but he needs about three years’ worth of starts to be a sure-fire, first-round pick. The only 2021 first-round quarterback who is really thriving is the one who started all three seasons: Trevor Lawrence.
What this means is Ewers may play a third season in Austin beyond this year and next. The idea is Manning would redshirt in 2023 to create two years of separation between he and Ewers. Well, what if he does not sniff the field until his redshirt sophomore year in 2025? How sure are we that Sarkisian is still the coach in Austin by then? Isn’t that the whole point of why he is going to Texas?
As the Longhorns continue to not be back, enduring one horns down after another from the opposing team and its fanbase, Uncle Peyton’s Tennessee Volunteers are absolutely thriving. They are the No. 3 team in the land. They upset cross-divisional rival Alabama in Knoxville last week and beat Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson’s father’s UT-Martin Skyhawks to a pulp on Saturday.
Alabama is already committed to Eli Holstein in 2023 anyway, so no harm, no foul there. While Arch Manning finalist Georgia could be in the mix, the Dawgs seem to have turned their attention to the 2024 class, as four-star Ryan Puglisi is the latest quarterback to commit to the G. Although Nico Iamaleava is in Manning’s recruiting class, the Mannings could pay him NIL money to leave…
So with Tennessee being cool again, Uncle Peyton having just recently been the guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay and Texas’ burnt orange starting to smell like burnt hair again, it would be something if Manning really flipped the script here and messed with Texas. Again, do not count on it, but this is college football, a beautiful sport where anything and everything can so happen.
Frankly, the only way Manning will decommit from Texas is if Texas runs Sarkisian out of town…
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