Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns will head to Knoxville this weekend for a big showdown against the Tennessee Vols.

Both teams are 3-0 entering their first SEC game of the season.

Both programs, however, are in very different positions right now.

Tennessee isn’t facing high expectations this season with true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon under center. The Vols are obviously playing to win every game, and they could be a sneaky College Football Playoff contender, but no one is going to preach doom-and-gloom if Tennessee loses to Texas this weekend.

Manning and Texas, on the other hand, are in a championship-or-bust year. This is supposed to be the year for Arch. He has an elite roster around him, and he’s in his fourth season at Texas. If not now, when?

Now, I haven’t been shy about lamenting the championship-or-bust mentality in college sports these days. I don’t love it. I think it’s a dangerous road to go down where development and investment in athletes as people gets tossed to the side in favor of a win-at-all-costs mentality.

But it doesn’t really matter what I think — it’s the reality of the sport, whether anyone likes it or not.

Arch Manning is expected to deliver against Tennessee

The pressure is entirely on Texas in this game.

It’s specifically on Arch.

Texas earned a big win against Ohio State a couple of weeks ago, but the Longhorns required a miracle comeback (and some odd offensive decisions in the second half from the Buckeyes) to get the win. Arch passed for 195 yards, a touchdown, and an interception against Ohio State. Not bad, but not eye-popping either.

And then last week against UTSA, Arch was worse, completing just 17-of-33 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-6 win.

ESPN analyst Jordan Reid thought Arch looked rough, pointing out his footwork and his eyes as concerns moving forward.

As Texas begins SEC play this week, I’ll be circling Arch Manning vs. Tennessee. Simply put, the UTSA film is rough.

Sailing passes, predetermining reads, bad footwork, and dropping his eyes prematurely to tuck and run.

How will he respond in a tough environment? Let’s see.

— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) September 21, 2026

Texas is the No. 1 team in the country, but questions about the offense aren’t going away this season until Arch has a big game in a big moment against an SEC opponent.

If Tennessee wins this game, they’ll be a surprise playoff contender. If the Vols lose this game, everyone will point out that it was Brandon’s first SEC start and that he’s only 18 years old and has a lot of room to grow.

If Texas wins this game, it’s because they were supposed to. And then they’ll still have big games remaining against Oklahoma (anything can happen in that rivalry), Florida, Ole Miss, and LSU. If Texas loses this game, the sky will be falling in Austin — especially if the offense struggles again.

This is the most pressure-packed spot Arch has ever been in. It’s a must-win game, he’s dealing with off-the-field noise because of his comments about ESPN reporter Holly Rowe (which Arch apologized for, and Holly graciously accepted), and he’s still facing questions about how good he actually is.

None of it is really fair to Arch, but, again, it’s reality.

I guess we’ll find out on Saturday just how well Arch can respond to the pressure.

As for Faizon Brandon, he should enter this game free and easy — no one is expecting the Vols to actually beat Texas.

In a sense, it kind of feels like those early-season 2022 Tennessee games against LSU and Alabama…