Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was pretty desperate to help struggling Arch Manning turn things around during the Longhorns’ 14-7 loss to Ohio State on Saturday.
Sarkisian revealed Monday that he pulled Manning aside and met privately with his quarterback at halftime of Saturday’s game. At that point, the Longhorns were trailing 7-0 and Manning had just 26 passing yards.
“I was pretty frustrated coming out at the first half, because I felt like we had a good plan,” Sarkisian said, via Dan Morrison of On3. “But I wasn’t mad in the sense I felt like, if I could just calm Arch and get him into a space. That’s why we met him directly at halftime.”
Sarkisian explained that one of the purposes of the meeting was to help Manning better identify Ohio State’s coverages.
“With Arch it was just recognizing how we could identify their coverages a little bit better,” Sarkisian said. “The plan of the things that we were gonna go to in the second half and how we expected to attack them. Like I said, I thought he understood. Took it really well. Was really receptive to how we were gonna recognize their coverages and attack them a little bit differently. I thought he responded well to that.”
Manning was better in the second half, but not significantly. He wound up going 17/30 for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Longhorns did outgain Ohio State 336-203, but the Buckeye defense stood firm when it needed to and made several key stops.
Manning certainly took a lot of heat for what turned out to be a poor overall game. However, it was his first game as a full-time starter. Sarkisian, at the very least, has not lost any faith in his sophomore quarterback.
