Arch Manning frustrated with Texas’ rough start, vows improvement: ‘I know I’m better than this’

Arch Manning and the Texas offense was supposed to get back on track Saturday against UTEP as a 40-point favorite, but more questions than answers remained following the Longhorns’ lackluster 27-10 win. Third down woes continued, Manning never found a rhythm in the passing game and Texas once again relied on its defense to handle the heavy-lifting against an inferior opponent.

“Yeah, I got to play better. It’s not good enough, as y’all can see,” Manning said, via Horns247. “I got to play better for us to … maybe it slides against UTEP, but it’s not going to win a games against SEC. I got to play better.”

Manning went 11 of 25 for 114 yards and a touchdown, along with an interception for the third consecutive game. Over eight possessions in the first half, the Longhorns punted three times, turned it over on downs twice and ended one inside the red zone with Manning’s ill-timed turnover.

“I think a lot of quarterbacks and a lot of players are hard on themselves,” Manning said. “They want to be great. And it’s frustrating because I know I’m better than this, and I got to play better.”

Manning’s mechanics have been all over the place to start the season. His pressed a bit in the opener against Ohio State and despite throwing four touchdown passes in last week’s win over San Jose State, misfired on several open throws he felt he should’ve made.

It was a mixture of both against Miners, leading to a passing attack that never got going for the Longhorns.

“I gotta go back to the basics and be more accurate, and get my playmakers the ball. Get them in space,” Manning said. “So come Monday, that’s the that’s the plan. Get back to it mechanically. I have to look back at the tape. I just gotta get these guys balls to be more accurate. All my life, I’ve been an accurate passer. I gotta get back to it.”

Steve Sarkisian’s handle on play-calling has seemingly eroded and now, other position groups have been questioned in the early going after a not-so-favorable start for the country’s preseason No. 1.

At one point in Saturday’s game, Manning had thrown 10 consecutive incompletions. Sarkisian agreed with a reporter’s assertion after the game that there’s too much going on mentally with his quarterback through the first three weeks.

“I would probably say for the most part it’s all mental, quite frankly, right? When you really think about the physical ability to make throws, and now it’s trust, belief, confidence, all those things right that play into it,” Sarkisian said. “And his ability to move on to the next play, I think, is something that we’ve got to continue to work on, and not harbor the last plays and the last plays and the last plays, and have the ability to refocus, recalibrate and focus on the next play.

“And so those are all things that, like I said, until you get put into these fires, that you have to learn from some of these things, it’s a lot easier when you’re on the outside looking in to say, just do this, just do that. Now he’s in the fire. Now we got to make these adjustments in real time. And like I said, that’s kind of the fun part of it all that we that we have something really to work on. We know what it is, it’s tangible, and we can get it done.”

Texas will be another heavy favorite next weekend against Sam Houston before an open date leading into its SEC opener at Florida could be season-defining. As the preseason Heisman frontrunner three weeks ago to tumbling down the list early, Manning is hoping to get back on the right track.

“Yeah, I’m just frustrated. I know I’m better than this,” Manning said. “It’s a little frustrating. It’s gonna be hard to sleep tonight, but I’ll be back rolling. It’s the only thing we can do.”