A national media outlet has mentioned Arch Manning. Again.
CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford listed the top 10 best home field advantage games this fall and some of the games featured were the Lone Star Showdown, Notre Dame vs Miami in South Bend, Ind. and Georgia versus Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
But the No. 1 game was Texas football‘s road matchup against Tennessee because of how “fans are going to make Arch Manning’s life hell” in Knoxville, Tenn.
“Offering no prediction here on sustained loudness inside Neyland, but if this one’s competitive in the second half, record noise levels will be in jeopardy,” Crawford said.
Calling it an “early barometer game for both programs,” Crawford expects the Longhorns to be 3-0 and ranked No. 1 when they travel to Tennessee and explains how the noise in Neyland will impact Manning’s play and in turn, possibly give the Longhorns their first loss of the season.
“… record noise levels will be in jeopardy,” Crawford wrote, in part.
Texas and Tennessee have not played each other since 1968. The Sept. 26 game at Rocky Top will be the fourth time the Longhorns and Volunteers have met but it is the first time they will meet in the 21st century and in a location that was not the Cotton Bowl. Texas holds the 2-1 all-time record between the two teams, but Tennessee took the first game in 1950, 20-14.
Outside of fans between the two schools bickering about “who is the real UT,” Arch will be walking into familiar territory for Mannings because his uncle, Peyton, had an illustrious college career as a Volunteer before being a No. 1 draft pick for the Indianapolis Colts.
Arch is also no stranger to being talked about by national outlets.
“I didn’t know that (article was written). I guess I do now. It doesn’t bother me,” Manning said Monday after the game.
Texas opens its season Sept. 5 in Austin against Texas State.