The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: what went wrong with Arch Manning against Ohio State

This weekend, Arch Manning’s first road start ended in disaster. Just seven offensive points scored, 0 points in two red zone trips and a meager 17/30, 170 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT performance.

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It was far from the output one might’ve expected from a Heisman favorite entering the year, even with this being his first time playing in a game of importance for the Texas Longhorns.

Manning had his problems on Saturday, but he also flashed at points that make you confident for the future.

Texas isn’t sounding the alarm yet, not even close, but looking back at the tape reveals some key problems Manning had.

The Good

First, the good.

Manning showed an elite usage of his legs in this game. He ran for 39 yards on nine attempts, which includes times when he was tackled at or around the line of scrimmage. His most impressive run came early in the second half. Manning drops back to throw, steps up past a linebacker blitz, maneuvers out of the pocket, makes two men miss and tiptoes down the sideline for a first down on 2nd and 13.

These are the glimpses you see with Manning; he’s not just fast, he’s nimble and smart with the ball in his hand. He’ll take a hit, but knows how to operate down the sideline. That turned a second and long into a first down past the midfield.

He also showed tremendous maneuverability in the pocket. I loved this play to Parker Livingstone. Feels the pressure, calmly moves into open space that his blockers have created and puts it directly on the money to an open receiver on the sideline. A high-value play when Texas needed it most.

The Bad

Manning’s decision-making was head-scratching at times.

Early, it felt like Manning was hesitant to unleash the deep ball to Ryan Wingo. That’s not something you can easily see on the broadcast, but from the press box view, he looked to have restrained himself from taking shots early down the field. Maybe that was a game plan thing, perhaps he just didn’t want to make the first big mistake.

Then, it seemed like he was trying too hard to find Wingo because he felt he needed to get his No. 1 involved in the game. Here’s one, for example.

This ball has to go to Spencer Shannon on the rub route. I understand that you want to get your guy involved, and that play call is ‘The Money Shot’ coming into the game, but that’s a throw that could have easily led to an interception. Pure double coverage. Shannon, at worst, gets Texas into 2nd and short, but Arch never looks his way.

Then there’s the Livingstone fourth down throw.

This ball has to go to Wingo here. You know it, I know it, everyone saw it. Even Sark said that’s where that ball is supposed to go.

DeAndre Moore sells the pick route really well and gets Wingo a step and a half on the press coverage corner. All Arch has to do is put it on his chest and Wingo is potentially in for a score. Instead, he chooses a low-percentage, extremely difficult throw to Livingstone. If you pause it at the time of Manning’s release, you can see Livingstone is breaking with some separation, but it still doesn’t look better than a pass to Wingo there. This should’ve been 7-14.

The Ugly

He was, plainly put, extremely inaccurate.

We knew that would be a weakness if he had one, throwing the ball in harm’s way and potentially missing a few easy ones, but he had some egregious misses.

Not the way to set the tone at the start of the game. These kinds of throws are theoretically money for Manning; it’s exactly in his wheelhouse of tools. But he sets his feet awkwardly, and the ball is way underthrown. That needs to work 95% of the time going forward.

The worst part of Manning’s game, though, was the shallow cross misses. I think I counted three of them, throws that any P4 starting QB should be making, much less the starting quarterback at No. 1-ranked Texas.

As Ian pointed out on Twitter, OSU plays really solid defense. That wheel route is open against lesser teams. But once he knows he has to make a different throw, he can’t put it there. There’s a chance the OSU DB makes a good enough hit on Wingo to jar a potential catch loose, but you have to put it on the money there. (Also, if we’re being nitpicky, Shannon is once again wide open)

This game wasn’t a full disaster for Manning. His legs were phenomenal and he showed off the deep ball on that Livingstone touchdown. They are already showing their connection, and it will come with time for Moore and Wingo.

Still, that was not what you expected, or can afford, from a quarterback you’ve invested so much in. Unfortunately, I can find far more plays that fit the ‘Bad and Ugly’ categories than I can the good. Fortunately for Arch, he has a month to fix it, but don’t underestimate the rowdiness of the Swamp at night.