Arch Manning's struggles continue as Texas drops tight game to Florida

Arch Manning was in the medical tent once and on the ground way more often.

The Texas star endured another difficult day in his first full season as a starter, throwing for 263 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in a 29-21 loss at Florida on Saturday. He was sacked six times.

Manning became the latest inexperienced QB to sink in the Swamp. But he nearly rallied the ninth-ranked Longhorns (3-2, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) down the stretch.

With Florida and coach Billy Napier milking the clock, Manning made it interesting. Thanks partly to a defensive penalty, he got the Longhorns into Florida territory in the waning seconds. But he threw incomplete deep and then was sacked again to close out the game.

It was a fitting end for a guy who was hurried and harassed all afternoon. He suffered “a stinger” to his shoulder at one point and got checked out on the sideline.

“He did take some hits,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “I thought Arch competed really well. He battled his butt off. … I’m sure there’s going to plays he’s going to look at on the film and say he wished he could have back that we thought we had going.

“But I thought he battled and competed.”

Manning completed 16 of 29 passes, with a long of 43 yards to DeAndre Moore Jr. He also missed Ryan Wingo and others deep. But he made several plays with his feet, scrambling nine times for a team-high 74 yards.

“You saw today how talented the guy is,” Napier said. “That’s the guy I remember from high school. Elite arm talent, obviously the football IQ is there, and he’s a heck of an athlete. That’s what I remembered in high school.

“We knew going in if we got out of our rush lanes, the guy could make us pay, and he did that.”

But the Gators (2-3, 1-1) picked off two of Manning’s passes in the fourth quarter with Texas chasing points. Jordan Castell got one, and Devin Moore the other.

“When you think you’ve got him, you don’t got him,” Moore said. “He can roll out, make plays.”

Florida made more and handed Manning his second loss in as many road starts. Manning has thrown at least one interception in four of five starts in 2025.

And he’s just beginning a daunting stretch away from home that includes the Red River Rivalry next week against No. 5 Oklahoma and road games against Kentucky and Mississippi State.

“This is where you find out about the culture that you have,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve got to get tighter than we’ve ever been. We’re going to have to quiet the noise because there will be plenty of noise coming out of this game.”

One obvious takeaway: Texas got whipped on both lines of scrimmage. The Horns ran for 52 yards despite getting Quintrevion Wisner back for the first time since the opener. Wisner ran eight times for 11 yards and a touchdown.

“We’ve got to improve that,” Sarkisian said. “We just cannot be a one-dimensional team. When guys can just start rushing the passer and not worrying about the run, the game gets really difficult. We’ve got to find a way to generate some run game and generate some run game outside of Arch. We’ve got to find it with the runners.”

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