The Longhorns will ultimately have their highest-profile player available for a pivotal game that could decide the fate of their season.
Texas quarterback Arch Manning was removed from the team’s injury report ahead of Saturday’s game vs. No. 9 Vanderbilt at DKR Memorial Stadium. Friday night’s report, released by the SEC, was without Manning. The sophomore signal caller exited last week’s overtime win against Mississippi State with an injury and entered into concussion protocol, according to head coach Steve Sarkisian.
Sarkisian told On3 Sports’ Chris Low that Manning will start vs. Vanderbilt.
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Manning returned to practice Wednesday, Sarkisian said on his weekly teleconference, but had to show that all signs and symptoms of his concussion are resolved before being made available to play in a game.
“Arch is obviously still in protocol,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “There are steps as it pertains to the protocol.”
The 20th-ranked Longhorns (6-2, 3-1 SEC) face both a significant test and potentially a make-or-break opportunity vs. the upstart Commodores (7-1, 3-1) this weekend. They may be required to win out to clinch a College Football Playoff berth for a third consecutive season. A loss to Vanderbilt, who’re listed as 2½-point underdogs, could be catastrophic to those chances.
Zero three-loss teams were granted an at-large bid into the first-ever 12-team playoff field last season. Clemson was the only entrant with three losses, but it clinched by way of the ACC championship game.
The Longhorns have already toed the line of practical elimination in recent weeks. They lost to a Florida team that later fired its head coach early this month and followed a win vs. Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game with narrow overtime victories against Kentucky (0-5 in conference play) and Mississippi State (0-4 in conference play).
Manning has passed for 1,795 yards, 15 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in his first full season as the team’s starter.
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