The Arch Manning talk simply won’t stop in the days and hours leading up to Texas’ clash with Clemson in the College Football Playoffs.

But finally, one national pundit nails it. ESPN’s Greg McElroy is the first one to correctly describe Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s thinking.

“I have a younger sister, and there was a movie that she watched religiously when we were a little bit younger. It’s a movie called Mean Girls,” McElroy said on ESPN’s Get Up. “There’s a moment in the Mean Girls movie where they say, ‘Stop trying to make fetch happen.’

“That’s kind of what I’m going to say about this Arch thing. Like, let’s stop trying to make Arch into his uncles right now.”

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McElroy pointed out that Manning could and probably should be used in situational moments against Clemson. Several pundits have argued that Sarkisian should call on Manning inside the Clemson 20-yard line all because of his 15-yard touchdown run in the regular season finale against Texas A&M.

“But being on the field for anything more than the situational play right now, I think would be disadvantageous to an offense,” McElroy said.

Like him or not, Quinn Ewers can cement his status as one of the Longhorns greats in College Football Playoffs

Ewers, already one of the statistical Longhorn greats, might be most under-appreciated QB in modern era of Texas football

Texas starter Quinn Ewers is the far more experienced quarterback. He’s the one who led the Horns to last season’s Big 12 title and back-to-back CFP appearances. Manning does not have the same level of experience to handle the type of defensive formations and schemes Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is likely to utilize.

For his part, Sarkisian wanted no part in hypothesizing this could be Ewers’ final game. Asked Thursday about whether this could be Ewers’ final game, what would his impact be? “No hypotheticals. I’m not doing hypotheticals. Next one,” Sarkisian snapped.

Simply put, Sarkisian does not want to even entertain the idea that Saturday is Texas’ final game this season. He’s talked multiple times about the season stretching to Jan. 20 and the CFP championship game.

“I’ve been really proud of the impact that he's had on our program,” Sarkisian said about Ewers. “He continues to perform in critical moments for us. He continues to fight through adversity and the resiliency he shows, not only physically but mentally as a guy that I'm very proud of.”

Ewers will get the start and likely go the distance against the Tigers in one of the biggest home games in the modern era of Longhorns’ football. A College Football Playoff home game? It’s hard to get much bigger than that at DKR.

For the moment, stop trying to make fetch happen.

“The offense is likely going to have to throw their way to victory,” McElroy said. “And you look at the teams they’re likely to face between now and the national championship, they’ve got to throw it to win the national championship.

“So I think Arch is going to be a great player situationally, but at this point, Quinn's your guy, and should hopefully take you to the promised land if you’re a Longhorn fan.”