Around mid-summer each year, the hype around Texas football lives a bit louder than usual.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the machine\u2019s bar was set extraordinarily high as Texas marched out the team\u2019s first-year starting quarterback Arch Manning each week, and who struggled early on last season. As many of us undoubtedly recall, Manning was a preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy last summer, even if he had yet to start an entire college season. Then\u2026 the Longhorns dropped a clunker of a game to Ohio State in Week 1\u2014the first game back after the Buckeyes\u2019 program won a College Football Playoff National Championship the previous season. There, he threw 17-of-30 for 170 yards, plus a lone touchdown and an interception.<\/p>\n
Dear, Texas fans, you likely recall how the story of the 2025 college season ends.<\/p>\n
For the Longhorns, a regular season dud of a winning season: 9-3.<\/p>\n
While acute, the pain of missing the College Football Playoff still stings for some of us.<\/p>\n
Yet this is no place for logic. Not in the final weeks of the offseason. Now, like clockwork, we again find ourselves at a familiar nexus of hype and reality; a comfortable place that seemingly keeps our dopamine flowing during the slow mid-summer weeks after the college baseball and softball seasons end (at least this year, the other foot-ball is a viewable option.)<\/p>\n
Now a season into his college starter era, and with an arguably stronger skills squad and hardened offensive line to compliment Manning\u2019s style of play, the latest heir of America\u2019s football dynasty family is once again one of the highest-ranking (if not highest ranked) preseason predictions of who will take home college football\u2019s most valuable player honor.<\/p>\n
Boom or bust ahead? Let\u2019s weigh our options\u2026<\/p>\n
Although Manning\u2019s first season under center at Texas got off to a sluggish, awkward start, as a third-year player last season, the gunslinger would go on to throw for 3,163 yards, 26 touchdowns, and a stingy seven interceptions. He also rushed for 399 yards and contributed 10 touchdowns on the ground\u2014a feature that helped keep opposing defensive fronts on their toes when the Longhorns needed either a big play or a lucky break, or both.<\/p>\n
By November last year, Manning\u2019s glow-up was evident.<\/p>\n
In fact, lowly sports bloggers, like ourselves, are riding that same confidence in our shot-in-the-dark predictions on how Manning\u2019s returning season as starting quarterback plays out.<\/p>\n
Alas, Texas fans, history is on our side. That\u2019s likely most easily cited in relation to a seasoned quarterback\u2019s wisdom on the field increases a team\u2019s potential for success.<\/p>\n
Case in point, the hype machine will continue its rattling this time of year, every year.<\/p>\n
Manning is just its latest victim in Austin\u2014and his family\u2019s name doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
Still, the SEC has rightfully made a man out of Manning after the incoming redshirt junior suffered through the gauntlet of guiding Texas through the league\u2019s powerhouse squads.<\/p>\n
The conference will only continue hardening Manning as a player. That\u2019s inevitable.<\/p>\n
(We can\u2019t all have it as easy as Texas Tech, as our fearless leader Sarkisian might say.)<\/p>\n
The difference between \u201cconfident\u201d and \u201cconvinced\u201d is more subtle than some realize.<\/p>\n
As for expectations of Texas football in 2026, I\u2019m \u201cconfident\u201d the Longhorns have another talented team in the making, but I\u2019m not \u201cconvinced\u201d it should be written in stone just yet.<\/p>\n
National championship or bust, folks.<\/p>\n
P.S. It\u2019s not too late to call your dad if you forgot to call him yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Around mid-summer each year, the hype around Texas football lives a bit louder than usual. In 2025, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,257,398,396,397,99,305251,41661,85233,85234,289043],"class_list":["post-719419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-general","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-texas-longhorns-discussion","tag-texas-longhorns-football","tag-texas-longhorns-football-injuries","tag-texas-longhorns-football-recruiting","tag-texas-longhorns-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}