The Texas Longhorns recently secured arguably their biggest win of the season against the Oklahoma Sooners. Arch Manning, going 21 of 27 for 166 yards and a touchdown, played a huge role in it. The win helped change the tone of the discussion around the quarterback.
Until recently, Manning was being labeled a ‘flop’ in the media. His lack of consistency and the Longhorns’ piling up losses against Ohio State and Florida made Manning an easy target to be criticized.
Considering the limelight that he has had since the beginning, Manning was under immense pressure to constantly deliver. And on occasions when he failed to do so, he was being ridiculed. The Athletic took things a little further by calling him college football’s first flop.
Recently, Manning was asked by a reporter whether he was aware of the ‘biggest flop in college football’ tag that was put on him. Completely unfazed by the criticism, Manning said that he didn’t even notice that there was such a narrative.
“Yeah, I didn’t know that. I guess I do now,” he SAID. “I wasn’t playing well, and I’m going to continue to get better. Everyone has their own opinion. That’s what’s good about America, everyone gets freedom of speech. It doesn’t bother me.”
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Manning acknowledged that there’s a lot of noise around his name and the scrutiny that he constantly faces. However, he tries his best to block the noise because paying attention to it will only harm his game.
But escaping the scrutiny isn’t easy. Manning said that despite his efforts, he gets 100s of text messages, telling him to block the noise. Despite that, he stated he tries his best to stay away from everything that’s being said about him.
Josh Pate Criticized the Media for Making Arch Manning the Center of Attention
The Longhorns quarterback comes from one of the most esteemed football families. With such a strong legacy behind him, it’s understandable why he ends up becoming the focal point of every discussion, even when he doesn’t want to be.
While he can’t avoid the attention even if he tried, Josh Pate doesn’t like that his teammates get overlooked. On a recent episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, he criticized the trend while throwing shade at Manning’s teammates.
“People have just talked about Texas like it’s tennis. It’s one person. They just say Arch. It’s like Oklahoma versus Arch,” Pate said. (From 4:40)
“Texas has other athletes like that,” Pate added. “The answers for Texas have been in the building. The players are in the building. It’s just you got to squeeze the sponge a little harder than you thought you were going to have to squeeze it to get the juice out.”
Manning can’t be blamed for the same. However, there is no other person that one can point their finger at in this scenario.
Read More:
Weeks After Viral Media Day Interaction, Paul Finebaum Speaks Out On Bullish Arch Manning Takes
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