Steve Sarkisian Reveals Why Arch Manning Didn't See Action vs. Rice

Texas fans were disappointed to not see quarterback Arch Manning play in Week 1

Despite winning their first game of the season by 27 points, the fanbase of the Texas Longhorns is not nearly as chipper as one would imagine.

The team struggled to protect Quinn Ewers against a Rice team that they should have been physically dominant against, and Ewers continued to struggle to connect on the deep ball with Xavier Worthy and other pass catchers. However, one of the other major reasons that has led to an abundance of disgruntled fans was the playing time of former five-star and No. 1 overall recruit, quarterback Arch Manning, or in his case the lack thereof.

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We learned during the blowout that Maalik Murphy is still the backup, but fans still were hoping to get a glimpse of Manning on the field and not just warming up on the sidelines. When speaking to the media over Zoom on Thursday, head coach Steve Sarkisian revealed why he didn't put Manning in the game. 

“I had all intentions of playing Arch in that game. I didn’t think the fourth quarter would go as fast as it did, and I didn’t want to put him in there for the last minute and a half and use a game on that.”

There are two takeaways from his statement, which is that he, like everyone else in college football, is getting used to the new rule implemented that the clock continues to run on first downs. In the past, it would stop when a team would get a first down. Also, unless there is an emergency situation for the Texas quarterback room the plan appears to be to redshirt Manning.

Being that Texas plays against No. 3 Alabama this weekend, we likely won't get another chance to see Manning until their Week 3 showdown with Wyoming.