Arch Manning amassed good stats in Texas’ rout of San Jose State, but he was far from flawless.
Billy Napier finds deeper trouble with Florida’s loss to South Florida.
Mike Gundy joins Billy Napier on the hot seat.
What if Arch Manning doesn’t stink? And, what if he’s not some blend of Tim Tebow meets Joe Burrow?
What if he’s just … average? Maybe, a notch above average, especially when he’s not facing Ohio State.
I know, I know, when evaluating Manning, it’s a spicy-takes-only zone.
I’m at risk of a committing party foul, because there’s nothing especially spicy about calling a first-year starting quarterback average.
Based on what we’ve seen of Manning through two starts this season, though, it’s the appropriate evaluation.
If you believed everything you read on social media, then Manning was either awesome or awful against San Jose State.
He was neither. He was sufficient, while starting in front of a home crowd against an overmatched opponent.
No wonder Archie Manning predicted his grandson wouldn’t declare for the NFL draft after this season. Nothing we’ve seen suggests he’s ready for ‘Monday Night Football.’ Nothing we’ve seen suggests Steve Sarkisian erred by starting Quinn Ewers the past two seasons, either.
Manning made some nice tosses in Texas’ 38-7 rout of San Jose State. Say this for him: He can throw a wheel route. Any SEC quarterback should be able to carve up an opponent of this caliber, and, after a rocky start, Manning did. He also threw an interception in the red zone when he forced a pass into double coverage, and Texas punted six times while he was in the game.
Just as he did against Ohio State, he looked better the longer the game went. He threw four touchdown passes, and Sarkisian kept playing him in a blowout deep into the fourth quarter, giving Manning’s stats time to marinate.
If you wagered your mortgage payment on Manning winning the Heisman Trophy, you’re probably feeling squeamish. This performance did not harken memories of uncle Peyton lighting up Kentucky for more than 500 yards. Didn’t evoke comparisons to Vince Young, either. Also didn’t elicit memories of Garrett Gilbert, a former five-star bust at Texas.
This performance ranked as something in between Young and Gilbert. Not spicy. Not bad, either.
Manning interspersed good throws with bad ones. He made a good read on a run-pass option for a touchdown to Parker Livingstone, who’s emerged as a favorite target. He grimaced while bouncing a throw at the feet of an open Ryan Wingo. He airmailed a deep ball early in the first quarter, which came closer to an interception than a completion. He showed speed and jukes that Peyton and Eli would envy on a weaving scramble into the end zone. Manning’s passing mechanics need polish. His athleticism as a runner remains an asset.
He proved effective, but far from flawless.
The good news for Texas? Led by its talented defense, Texas can win a lot of games with a solid, imperfect quarterback. But, the Longhorns will need a quarterback to win a national championship. Manning hasn’t looked championship ready. Maybe, he’ll get there.
Manning will close September with two more games against Group of Five opponents. That’s groundwork for more stat-padding and blazing takes.
‘Sloppy,’ Manning said of his performance against San Jose State.
Spicy! Like a lot of opinions about Manning, though, he overstated it.
Sometimes, a guy’s just average, no matter his surname.
Here’s what else caught my eye in Week 2:
Billy Napier advances toward Florida firing
Napier said the words on every Florida fan’s brain after the Gators shockingly lost 18-16 to South Florida at The Swamp.
‘I think it is coaching,’ Napier said of the team’s undisciplined play.
Yes, indeed. Coaching remains the issue in Napier’s fourth season, and a loss to an instate Group of Five school pushes Napier further down the plank.
An offseason of hype belied the reality that, other than a few wins at the end of last season, Napier’s never shown he’s up to this job.
‘Not good enough,’ Napier said of Florida’s performance.
That assessment could double as the title of a book about Napier’s tenure.
His 20-20 record at Florida designates him as the Gators’ worst coach since the 1940s, not counting interim coaches.
This result had all the hallmarks of a Napier debacle – a barrage of penalties, a special teams blunder and clock management issues.
As an added twist, Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett got ejected for spitting on an opposing player late in the fourth quarter, while the outcome hung in the balance. That penalty, one of 11 for the Gators, advanced South Florida 15 yards closer to its game-winning score.
On the opposite sideline, South Florida coach Alex Golesh continues to establish himself as an intriguing candidate for Florida’s coaching-search-in-waiting.
Mike Gundy advances toward Oklahoma State firing
The Mike Gundy era at Oklahoma State will be remembered about like ‘Interstellar,’ Christopher Nolan’s movie starring Matthew McConaughey. Both were darn good for a while, but they took a sudden turn and ended woefully bad.
On cue, Gundy stuffed himself into a bookcase this week. He poked the Duck when he made a pointed comment about Oregon’s roster payroll. Leave it to Oregon coach Dan Lanning, a motivational maestro, to use that as extra fuel for a 69-3 thrashing. For Oklahoma State, the closing credits on the Gundy era can’t come soon enough.
Iowa State stock keeps climbing
We used to say ‘College kickers!’ with great sarcasm. The line was most appropriately uttered after a kicker hooked a field goal approximately 143 yards off the mark or drilled a low laser into a lineman.
The past few years, though, we no longer must press our tongue into our cheek when we exclaim, ‘College kickers!’ These guys are drilling field goals – long ones, too – at a more reliable rate. To wit, Iowa State’s Kyle Konrardy confidently split the uprights from 54 yards to secure a Cy-Hawk victory against Iowa.
College kickers, I’m telling you. They’re no joke anymore.
Neither is Iowa State. Far from it. I tapped the Cyclones as a playoff qualifier in my most recent projections, and, at 3-0, I’m sticking with that choice.
Baylor, with its comeback win against SMU, joined Iowa State in providing a ray of hope for the Big 12 amid an otherwise bleak day when Arizona State, Kansas, West Virginia and Kansas State suffered humbling losses, and Gundy’s Cowboys endured humiliation.
Mississippi survives ‘kryptonite’
Celebrity guest picker Trae Young stunned the ‘College GameDay” panelists when he picked Kentucky to upset Mississippi. It fit the theme of Young, an NBA star, gravitating his picks to basketball brands. Young dubbed Kentucky as the Rebels’ ‘kryptonite,’ a nod to Ole Miss faceplanting in a home loss to Kentucky last season. That result kept the Rebels out of the playoff.
Sure enough, Ole Miss spotted Kentucky a 10-point lead after Austin Simmons threw two interceptions in his first career road start, but Young’s upset pick went bust. The Rebels rallied to prevail, 30-23.
That was good enough to avoid disaster, though not good enough to cover the spread.
‘Sorry to all the gamblers,’ Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said afterward.
The SEC will shake up its conference schedule next season. Kiffin might want to request that Kentucky be left off his team’s docket. The past two seasons, Ole Miss made bad Wildcats teams look competent.
Welcome back, Border War
ESPN personality Paul Finebaum said in an interview before the Kansas-Missouri Border War rivalry renewal that he convinced a producer for ‘SEC Nation’ that the Week 2 broadcast should air from Columbia, Missouri, and not in Lexington, Kentucky.
‘I told these guys, ‘You have no earthly idea how great this rivalry is, and how bitter it is,’ Finebaum said on ‘The Tiger Kickoff Show.’
He’s right. Kansas and Missouri renewed their bitter rivalry for the first time since 2011, and that game deserved the spotlight, more so than Ole Miss-Kentucky. Judging by the scenes emerging from Columbia, fans couldn’t have been more fired up about Finebaum’s presence if he’d been the king of England.
Though the SEC’s pregame show was in town, Missouri’s 42-31 triumph, fueled by its 588 yards of offense, felt like something right out of the Big 12’s heyday.
In the future, if ‘SEC Nation’ ever considers going to Lexington instead of the Border War, keep listening to Finebaum.
Three and out
1. Anyone watch Penn State’s zombie-like performance in a win against Florida International and think they were witnessing the eventual national champion? If September rankings reflected accomplishments and performances that occurred this season, rather than hype and expectations, South Florida would claim Penn State’s spot at No. 2 in the polls.
2. No. 12 Illinois looked the part of playoff contender in a destruction of Duke, while No. 13 Michigan looked the part of pretender in a loss to No. 24 Oklahoma. Michigan’s offensive woes from last season re-emerged against a good Oklahoma defense. Illinois will close September with pivotal games against Indiana and Southern California.
3. Dabo Swinney begged the media to say Clemson sucked after a Week 1 loss to LSU. Most of us refrained then, but, after Clemson needed a second-half rally to wriggle past Troy, Swinney moved closer to getting his wish.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
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