{"id":473492,"date":"2026-10-22T15:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473492\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:32:27","slug":"paul-finebaum-rips-steve-sarkisian-as-arch-manning-drama-brews-embarrassing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473492\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum rips Steve Sarkisian as Arch Manning drama brews: &#8216;Embarrassing&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Finebaum is pointing fingers in Texas. <\/p>\n<p>As the Arch Manning hype <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/17\/sports\/arch-mannings-late-fumble-caps-second-straight-brutal-outing-as-texas-rally-fails-in-loss\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">has turned lukewarm<\/a> halfway through the season, the college football analyst feels there are reasons beyond the young quarterback for why he has not met expectations as a Heisman Trophy candidate and potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Finebaum is looking at Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. <\/p>\n<p>Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) talks to head coach Steve Sarkisian late in a college football game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m beginning to wonder if Arch Manning should even start. I know he will, and he\u2019s capable of leading them to a win, but I blame Sarkisian for every aspect of this,\u201d Finebaum said on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HusI-ORuKAk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u201cThe\u00a0Matt Barrie Show\u201d this week.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s terrible. It\u2019s embarrassing what you\u2019ve done to Arch Manning<a href=\"https:\/\/larrybrownsports.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-blasts-steve-sarkisian-embarrassing-handling-arch-manning\/775192#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">. And I wonder if he\u2019s going to regret the day that he went to play for Steve Sarkisian,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p>It was reported Monday that Texas will be <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/10\/19\/sports\/arch-manning-put-on-notice-with-texas-backup-to-get-more-reps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">giving backup quarterback KJ Lacey Jr. more first-team reps<\/a> in practice this week.<\/p>\n<p>Although Manning is set to start this Saturday against No. 7 Ole Miss, the decision by the team puts his spot under center in jeopardy. <\/p>\n<p>The Longhorns (4-2) have dropped two straight games to unranked SEC foes Oklahoma and Florida. <\/p>\n<p>Manning threw a pair of interceptions against the Sooners, while the Gators were playing with a backup quarterback and had allowed 83 points in their previous two games.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Finebaum is blaming Steve Sarkisian for Arch Manning\u2019s up and down season.  YouTube @espncfb<\/p>\n<p>In each of the last two games, Manning has had a turnover on the final drive. <\/p>\n<p>Texas has plummeted from No. 1 to No. 19 in the AP Poll over the last two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Finebuam added Sarkisian has made an \u201cabsolute mess out of the most talented team in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sarkisian has backed up his second-year starter to the media, but admitted Manning has more to give.<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma Sooners defensive line Trent Wilson (90) tackles Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) during the first half of a game at Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s no doubt about it: Arch can play better for us,\u201d he said Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s our starter, but I need to see a better version of Arch Manning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In six games, Manning has thrown 1,295 yards for 11 touchdowns with five interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>He has only thrown over 300 yards in one game, in Week 1 against Texas State.<\/p>\n<p>If the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning doesn\u2019t find a spark soon, his draft position could be heavily affected if he decides to declare in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum is pointing fingers in Texas. As the Arch Manning hype has turned lukewarm halfway through the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3230,261,154,21986,3231,27,29,537,28],"class_list":["post-473492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-arch-manning","tag-college-football","tag-sports","tag-sports-media","tag-steve-sarkisian","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-longhorns","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}