Hyperbole is a staple of sports debate television, but sometimes it goes too far.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum may have crossed that line on Tuesday morning. Appearing on the network’s morning show Get Up, Finebaum shared his bold take about Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning.
“Arch Manning is the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006.”
—@finebaum on Arch Manning 👀 pic.twitter.com/vTm9buTfKX
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 1, 2025
“Paul Finebaum, what’re your expectations for Arch [Manning]?” Dan Graziano asked.
“The absolute roof. I think there’s a reasonably good chance that Arch Manning will be sitting on the front row in New York at the Heisman ceremony,” Finebaum replied. “That’s assuming that his team does what it’s supposed to do and compete not only for the SEC, but for the national championship, and I really believe they will.
“I think Steve Sarkisian, who is one of the most amazing play callers I’ve ever seen, made a critical mistake late in the year. He was way too loyal to Quinn Ewers, who was banged up and was really ineffective. Had Arch Manning been instituted in the second half of that [playoff] game, like Nick Saban did a couple years ago with [Tua] Tagovailoa, I think there’s a reasonably good chance that Texas would’ve beaten Ohio State and won the national championship. They’re very capable of doing it again this year.
“I believe, also, that Arch Manning is the best college football quarterback we have seen since Tim Tebow entered the scene in 2006.”
That’s high expectations for a quarterback with only two career starts. But, to be fair, Manning has been solid in his limited action so far. Last year, he threw for 939 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions across nine game appearances. Of course, Manning’s action largely came in garbage time when the game was out of reach.
Just given his name, Manning is going to have high expectations entering this year, regardless of what pundits like Finebaum say about him on ESPN. If Finebaum’s prediction is right, and Manning turns out to be as good as Tebow in 2006, “Manning Mania” could rival “Tebow Mania” in the media.