Arch Manning hype falls off a cliff in record time

Arch Manning was crowned the next great quarterback in college football and the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft this offseason. He just hadn't proved it yet. At halftime of Texas' season opener against Ohio State, college football fans and media are wondering if all that hype was hot air.

Manning's first half was extraordinarily meh. He completed 5-of-10 passes for 26 yards, missing wildly almost as often as he put a throw on target He ran for 13 yards on five carries, struggling to find any room to navigate through the Ohio State defense.

We should all remember that this is Manning's first start. He's getting an introduction to playing on the road in one of the most hostile environments in college football. And Ohio State has one of the most formidable defenses in the country. But that's the reasonable take on the whole situation. In sports, overreactions are much more fun. And that's what social media is best at.

Best social media reactions to Arch Manning's rough debut

We start with Ralph Russo, whose sarcastic take on forming an opinion on Manning based on this performance sets the stage perfectly.

The big winner of Texas' difficult first half was Quinn Ewers. After a year of debating whether Arch should have been starting over the veteran QB last year, it's starting to look like Ewers deserved more respect.

It doesn't help that Arch's popularity doesn't allow anyone to escape him during commercial breaks.

Some in the media were victory-lapping their offseason takes that Arch Madness had gotten out of hand.

Far more on social media were just having fun with the whole thing. The memes were endless and entertaining.

A debuting in a season opener, on the road, against the No. 3 team in the country isn't easy. But this is the problem with preseason hype. You never truly know how a quarterback will respond when thrown into live action. You also never know how they're respond to their first taste of adversity. That's Arch's next test.