Steve Sarkisian jokingly mocks Paul Finebaum, Jordan Rodgers over Arch Manning debate

Like any diehard college football fan, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian loves hearing analysts talk ball. During an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday, Sarkisian revealed the perspective of a coach listening in on Finebaum and other pundits.

“Some of it is great to snicker at. Some of it is enjoyable,” Sarkisian said. “Think about this: It’s July 15, and how much is being talked about the Week 1 matchups? Us at Ohio State, LSU at Clemson, ‘Bama at Florida State. I can’t tell you one Week 1 matchup in the NFL.

“There’s this idea in college football, like we get to celebrate this really cool sport that we have. You guys get to talk about it. You can say Arch Manning’s the greatest quarterback since Tim Tebow and Jordan [Rodgers] is gonna come on here and say he’s hot garbage.”

Finebaum couldn’t help but laugh at Sarkisian’s last comment. The ESPN analyst has caught endless flack from his colleagues this week after declaring Manning is the best quarterback in college football since Tim Tebow.

SEC Network’s Jordan Rodgers particularly took offense to Finebaum’s comments. Rodgers confronted Finebaum on Monday, declaring the “hype train is out of control.”

Analysts witnessed Manning’s hype first-hand on Tuesday when reporters swarmed the redshirt sophomore during his media availability. While Sarkisian can’t help but shake his head at some of Finebaum’s comments, he also is thankful for the spotlight it puts on college football.

“But that’s the beauty of it, and that’s what you guys get to do to celebrate our game, to talk about our games… To me, college football is more popular today than it’s ever been,” Sarkisian said. “A lot of it is due, in part, to what you all are able to do to celebrate our game.

“Granted, we got to put a good product on the field and, yeah, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of talking points right now, especially in college football. But, man, it’s popular, and people like hearing about it. People like talking about it. And I’m no different. I think it’s great.”

With two days remaining at the 2025 SEC Kickoff, Sarkisian can expect to see plenty more coverage around his team this week. Texas will kick off its season with a formidable showdown against Ohio State at noon ET on Aug. 30. The game will air live on FOX.