Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning humbles after explosive SEC debut

AUSTIN — Texas made a few mistakes in its Southeastern Conference debut, but Arch Manning wasn’t one of them.

The redshirt freshman quarterback made his second career start against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and threw for three touchdowns, including a 49-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Moore in the second quarter.

“I think we need to clean up,” Manning said. “Three snap penalties, possessions, a lot of it is on me. I have to be a leader in the room, on offense. We’ll take care of that over the bye week and get ready for OU.”

Manning scored his own touchdown in the third quarter with a 26-yard run to the goal line, putting the Longhorns up 21-6 heading into the fourth.

With a week separating Saturday’s game and the Red River Showdown against Oklahoma in Dallas on Oct. 12, quarterback Quinn Ewers should be fully recovered from his early-season injury. But Manning has proven he can handle the starting role.

Ewers will likely start against the Sooners, but for once, he’ll have a strong challenger for the job. However, there is no rivalry between the two.

“(Ewers) has been great to me,” Manning said. “(I) just rely on him for advice.”

Whether Ewers or Manning would start the conference opener wasn’t decided until Friday, but Manning, now more experienced in the college game, prepared like any other weekend.

“Throughout the week, I was going to prepare the same way,” Manning said. “Once it’s game time you have to relax and have fun, that’s what it’s all about. Last week I didn’t have as much fun as I wanted, I had a a little more fun today even if it was a little difficult.