Steve Sarkisian explains why he coached Arch Manning hard vs. Mississippi State

Arch Manning isn’t receiving any special treatment. After Texas‘ 35-13 win over Mississippi State on Saturday, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian evaluated Manning’s performance and pulled back the curtain on their dynamic.

“I coached him hard today in-game,” Sarkisian said. “We’re always going to continue to push these guys to try to be the best. And I thought there were some things in today’s game that Arch did really, really well.”

It was Manning’s second start in a row while Texas QB1 Quinn Ewers continues to recover from an abdominal injury he suffered against UTSA. In the win on Saturday, Manning completed 26-of-his-31 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception.

Further, Manning recorded six carries for 33 yards and a score. It was an improved showing for Manning, who barely completed half of his passes in Texas’ 51-3 win over UL Monroe and also threw two interceptions.

After the Longhorns’ win on Saturday, Sarkisian explained his goals for Manning against Mississippi State.

“I did want to make sure that we were getting him completions,” Sarkisian said. “I just didn’t want him to feel like a home run hitter every time he got in the box. I think playing quarterback, you’re shooting for the Triple Crown. We want to hit with a great average… I felt like last week, we were kind of a home run hitter, and we were hitting .250 and I wanted to get that average up.

“There was some nice, nice plays made by him, especially on some third down conversions. And there was a couple other ones I thought he could have operated the plays even better. So, that’s our job — to push him to go do that. But, I was proud of him. I thought he really responded coming off of last week’s game. And what a luxury, to have a player of his caliber as our backup quarterback.”

Arch Manning may return to his backup role soon. On Monday, reports surfaced claiming Quinn Ewers is expected to return in Texas’ next game against Oklahoma on Oct. 12. Nonetheless, if Ewers suffers another injury, the Longhorns can feel comfortable putting the ball in Manning’s hands.