Steve Sarkisian reacts to Arch Manning's debut game against Texas Tech in rivalry week - "Crowd was buzzing"
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is elated with his team's performance against Texas Tech. The Longhorns lost to the Red Raiders last season in Lubbock. However, this year, they executed their revenge in brutal fashion, dismantling Texas Tech 57-7, their first 50-point win in the Big 12 since the 2007 season.
The Longhorns are atop the Big 12 rankings with an 11-1 (8-1 in the Big 12) record and will lock horns with Oklahoma State for the conference title. However, one of the biggest highlights of this week 13 rivalry game was the debut of quarterback Arch Manning, the nephew of NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning.
While regular starter Quinn Ewers played most of the game, Manning came in to replace Ewers late in the third quarter and played the entire fourth quarter. After the game, Sarkisian opened up about the reaction of fans at the Darrell K Royal Stadium when Manning walked onto the field, saying that the crowd went in a roar with excitement.
"Backups are always kind of the fan favorite, but when Arch went in the crowd was buzzing. We had to try to quiet the crowd. Probably there's some butterflies and some anxiousness first time playing early on", Sarkisian said.
The five-star freshman had a strong debut for the Longhorns. He completed two of five passes along with 30 passing yards. Sarkisian praised Arch Manning for his performance and sounded confident about his chances of becoming a star college quarterback.
"One thing I was impressed with was in that last 90-yard drive with our 2s. What a drive for those guys. Super proud for them.
"Two good third-down conversions in there, the conversion to Johntay and the conversion to Casey Cain. In the previous drive, he (Arch) used his legs pretty well. Things for him to build upon moving forwrad but happy he was able to get in"
Steve Sarkisian advances to first Big 12 championship game with Texas
Steve Sarkisian joined the Longhorns in 2021. After two years, he's making his way to compete for the conference title in his best season as the coach of the Longhorns.
During the post-game press conference, Steve Sarkisian opened up about the reasons behind his decision to take the job:
"It's very gratifying. We came here, when I accepted this job, I didn't...I've told you guys this before but I think its important.. I didn't accept this job just to be a head coach again. I felt like at that point in my career I knew I would be one again.
"But I took this job because I thought we coul be champions here. We could win championships year after year and whatever that may look like, but at least put ourselves in a position to do that", Sarkisian said.
Will the Longhorns emerge as Big 12 champions under Steve Sarkisian this year?