The Red River Rivalry heads back to the Cotton Bowl on Saturday as the No. 1 Texas Longhorns take on the Oklahoma Sooners in one of the biggest games on the college football slate. The Sooners sit at 2-2, while the Longhorns are undefeated. But that hasn’t stopped quarterback Arch Manning from catching heat, with some still questioning whether Texas is truly a title contender with him under center.
Josh Pate made his opinion very clear on Thursday’s episode of "Get Up." "No. No, they can’t," Pate said on whether the Longhorns can win a national championship with this version of Manning. "They can be the No. 1 team in the country in early October.
They could make the [College Football] Playoff. But there’s a big difference in being playoff caliber and being national championship caliber because eventually someone else has a good defense. So eventually it’s in the hands of your quarterback.
"I think they’ll win against Oklahoma, but down the road that’s the big question: do you watch them week over week and say, ‘I see progression out of Arch Manning’? All these wide receiver weapons they went and got in the portal are being more incorporated into the offense right now. You may not need it in early October.
You will need it in December and January." More news: Paul Finebaum Sends Clear Warning to Kirby Smart Before Alabama Showdown The Longhorns are 4-0 and already have two signature wins: an upset of Ohio State in Week 2 and a gritty win over Tennessee in Knoxville two weeks ago. But they’ve now had some time off, and the road ahead isn’t getting any easier, with a gauntlet of ranked SEC opponents after Saturday’s game. They host Florida, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State before traveling to Missouri and LSU.
And while Manning hasn’t necessarily looked bad this season, Texas isn’t winning because of him. They aren't losing because of him either, which is important, but he has just 862 passing yards and seven touchdowns through four games, along with 82 rushing yards and no rushing touchdowns. That puts him on pace to finish with worse totals than last year, when he was getting blasted for not being a truly elite quarterback.
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