National analyst believes Steve Sarkisian may need to bench Arch Manning to eventually get the best out of him
This is a terrible idea and I’m going to tell you why.
Earlier this week, Danny Kanell of the Cover 3 Podcast and CBS Sports was discussing the Texas Longhorns and its quarterback Arch Manning on their “Upon Further Review” episode. And things got a little weird.
Kanell is tossing out the idea of head coach Steve Sarkisian possibly benching Manning in order to get the best out of him this season. Kanell references former Florida State Seminoles quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward coming to Manning’s aid about receiving some boos last week.
“I know the feeling, Arch, I got booed and benched several times in ‘92. Keep putting in the work and trusting your work as you learn from these experiences,” Ward said via his Twitter account. “You have a Heisman in your future just keep growing from each game!”
Now Danny Kanell is actually entertaining the idea.
“He got taken out of the game. I came in and I wasn’t ready. So like I would come in and kind of get the ball going,” Kanell said. “And it was fun, but then they’d go back to Charlie. And even coach (Bobby) Bowden and Mark Richt were like ‘he just needed a breather, he needed to get off the field, kind of collect’.”
Now, this weekend is a perfect place for Arch to bounce back in a big way. Sam Houston’s pass defense is at or near the bottom of the nation in damn near every category. The Bearkats are 133rd in pass defense, 113th in pass efficiency defense, 115th in completion percentage allowed, 131st in passing touchdowns allowed, and 119th or worse in 10, 20, 30, and 40-yard completions allowed.
Manning hasn’t looked great, but there have been flashes and we all know what kind of talent he is. Still, Kanell doubled down.
“Maybe he needs to be taken off the field just to get a breather,” Kanell said. “And they might have to look at other options to see what happens.”
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Then, he triples down and references last year when Arch Manning came in for Quinn Ewers.
“Sark did that to Quinn and put in Arch. He took Quinn off and he said he needed a breather,” Kanell said. “He needed to watch a series from the sideline before going back in there. He did that, I think, two times last season.”
If I remember correctly, Ewers came out a few times last season because of injury. It wasn’t because they were trying to rattle his cage. And this isn’t something we can look at in a vacuum. This season is much different than last season. Manning would come in at times to give a different look offensively. It wasn’t because Sarkisian wanted to teach Ewers a lesson.
“It’s in Sark’s bag as something to do when you’re trying to work with your quarterback. The question is is the quarterback depth there that he’s got the same amount of confidence in being able to turn over a series? And if the answer is no, uh-oh.
“If that’s what you need to do to get this thing back on track, it’s a tough scene.”
All of this to say, I think it would be a MASSIVE mistake to bench Arch Manning to prove a point.
As I said earlier in this piece, this weekend is the perfect spot to get right. The offense should be able to put up big-time numbers against Sam Houston and get in a very good headspace heading into Florida.
I fully expect Arch Manning to have a breakout performance ahead of starting SEC play. And, sure, it’s Sam Houston and it’s a terrible football team. But, the point is getting him confident ahead of the Florida game. And if you benched him, I think it would be a major setback.
Steve Sarkisian knows what’s coming and for Texas to get where it wants to be, you need Arch Manning fully confident and clicking on all cylinders. And doing what Danny Kanell is pushing would be a major disservice to Texas and Arch Manning’s development as the future of the program.
