Saturday's matchup between No. 1 Texas and Louisiana-Monroe will be a gigantic opportunity for the country to see one of the most anticipated quarterbacks in the country play wire-to-wire.
No, not ULM's General Booty. Texas' Arch Manning will be making his first career start for the Longhorns in place of the injured Quinn Ewers. Manning has the honor of leading a No. 1 Texas team for the first time since Colt McCoy.
Saturday could also be the pinnacle of online debate over whether head coach Steve Sarkisian should continue starting Manning if he follows up his impressive relief appearance from Week 3 with another big day (276 total yards and 5 touchdowns).
But an unlikely source is attempting to quell any discourse that will inevitably arise from Manning's performance one way or another.
The Manning camp tells fans to tap the brakes on Arch-Madness hype
Friday on "The Pat McAfee Show," McAfee read a text he received from "source(s) in the Manning family" that dialed down the expectations on Arch being the guy at Texas going forward.
One of my source(s) in the Manning family told me this..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 20, 2024
We are old school and you never lose your job from an injury..
Everybody assumes that Arch is on a fast track to the NFL but that isn't true..
He wants to develop and stay in Steve Sarkisian's system #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/j3iHjSxDnu
"One of my source(s) in the Manning family said this: 'We are old school. You never lose your job from an injury. It'll get handled. Everybody assumes Arch is on this fast track to the NFL, that is not true, we are in no hurry, he wants to develop, he wants to stay in Sark's system, he decided to go there knowing Quinn Ewers was going to be there,'" McAfee said.
He later added that the source was "anonymous" but that their last name is Manning. So, fans can speculate on their own who texted McAfee. It's fair to note that the crew went on to discuss Cooper Manning, Arch's father, and his career at Mississippi after talking about the quote from the source.
There has been no indication from Sarkisian or the Texas program that Arch is in any position to usurp Ewers as the starter going forward. Ewers is considered week-to-week with his abdominal injury and could get additional time to recover if Manning does well on Saturday.
Texas has lowly Mississippi State on the schedule in Week 5 before heading to the bye week. Ewers could then return for the Red River Rivalry game against No. 15 Oklahoma on Oct. 12.