Ahead of Saturday’s Week 1 college football showdown between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus, ESPN’s SEC voice Paul Finebaum offered some commentary that seemed very questionable at the time and looked even more questionable just a few hours later.
The Buckeyes beat the Longhorns 14-7 in Columbus, and it was an uneven performance for Texas sophomore quarterback Arch Manning.
Manning — the son of Cooper, grandson of Archie, and nephew of Peyton and Eli — finished the game 17-of-30 passing for 170 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Longhorns were scoreless until Manning’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Parker Livingstone with 3:28 remaining. Along with the touchdown toss, Manning made a great pass on the Longhorns’ final drive. However, he also threw an ugly interception, was lucky not to be picked off a second time, had a bad third-down miss on the final drive, and was shaky for the entire first half.
This came after Finebaum offered eye-opening praise for Manning on Saturday’s edition of SEC Nation on SEC Network.
“It is the biggest opening game I think we have ever had, and there are a lot of reasons for it,” Finebaum began. “But the biggest reason is Arch Manning. I’ve said it; I’ll say it again. He is the best player we have seen from every aspect since Tim Tebow.”
That’s quite the statement, and even if we take his comment to just be referring to the SEC alone. After all, the conference has had quarterbacks such as Joe Burrow, Cam Newton, and Johnny Manziel since Tebow’s collegiate days, putting aside the countless SEC superstars at other positions.
Finebaum elaborated: “Maybe he’s not proven it yet, but in terms of magic, and majesty, and buzz. That’s where we are. People are going to be watching this game today who would never normally watch a college football game.”
Tebow, fittingly, was also on SEC Nation, and he responded to Finebaum’s comments.
“Magic and majesty? We’re just playing a game,” Tebow said with a laugh.
To Finebaum’s point, the buzz, hype, and optimism are absolutely there. Manning was a five-star prospect in the class of 2023 and has been viewed as a potential top pick in the 2026 or 2027 NFL Draft, but he entered Saturday with just two games started and 95 passes thrown in college football. And as Saturday showed, there’s still a very long way to go in the 21-year-old’s development to come close to living up to the lofty expectations.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.