‘The Eyes of Texas’ are upon QB Manning

By David Mullen

The 2025 college football season officially begins off campus. Broadcast on ESPN, the AP poll No. 22 ranked Iowa State Cyclones face the No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 10 a.m., in a game scheduled for Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

It’s difficult enough to explain American football to the Irish, let alone trying to justify why two grain belt college football teams not named Notre Dame are opening the season in the Emerald Isle. It’s like Kerry and Donegal opening the Gaelic football season in Des Moines.

The “professional” college football season symbolically opens the next day, on Saturday, Aug. 30 at “The Horseshoe” in Columbus, Ohio, where the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns face the No. 3 (No. 2 in the AFCA Coaches Poll) Ohio State Buckeyes. This is the first full year where the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals — allowing for player compensation — and a player portal — where players jump to university programs offering the best deals — kicks in.

UT is allocating nearly $40 million in NIL money to the football program’s roster. The Ohio State University has designated more than $20 million to pay their college athletes, previously known as amateur athletes. Instead of playing for the old alma mater, young men will be playing for the new Maserati.

The Texas vs. Ohio State matchup will feature highly touted QB Arch Manning at the helm of a program with great expectations shared by their rabid alumni. When a team is ranked No. 1, there is nowhere to go but down. “The Eyes of Texas” and the entire college football world will be upon Manning and head coach Steve Sarkisian. There will be no former QB Quinn Ewers to blame.

Manning’s 2025 collegiate NIL payday has been pegged at $6.8 million; $2 million more than Arch’s Uncle Eli Manning was paid as the NFL’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft by the New York Giants. Arch’s potential haul is four times what his grandfather and two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Archie Manning made in his 13-year NFL career.

The bet on Arch Manning seems viable. He comes from an extended family of quarterbacks (add NFL Hall of Famer Uncle Peyton to the mix) and even though a sophomore, Manning enters the season as the only QB — professional, collegiate or a professional collegian — in 25 years to have a touchdown run of more than 65 yards and TD passes of more than 50 yards and 75 yards in a single game.

Sarkisian has many weapons at his disposal, including an explosive running game with Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter, a topflight defensive backfield, All-American linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and a very deep roster.

He promises to use a slew of players and “lots of fresh legs” as he likes to say. Sometimes last season, UT looked lethargic and lost. Fans will look at Sarkisian to coach the 60 full minutes of inspired football required to advance in the SEC and into the College Football Playoff.

In addition to Texas and Ohio State, the Top 10-ranked college football teams are Penn State, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon, Alabama, LSU and Miami. If UT can get past the Buckeyes, the No. 1 spot is almost guaranteed to be secure for one month with games at home against San José State, UTEP and Sam Houston. The Red River Showdown against Oklahoma, at the Cotton Bowl, is Saturday, Oct. 11 at 2:30 p.m. The Longhorns must travel to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday, Nov. 15.

The SMU Mustangs open the 2025 season at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 8 p.m., against East Texas A&M. The athletic department is asking fans to wear white to create a “whiteout” in the stands. The team is hoping for a wipeout.

The Ponies are coming off a remarkable 2024 season. They started 11-1 and qualified for the ACC Championship game, losing a hard-fought battle against Clemson and then were crushed by Penn State in the CFP. Dallas native QB Kevin Jennings is back.

He is a thrill to watch and one year of experience behind him will only help his progress. He has the skills to keep SMU in the ACC echelon.

Head coach Rhett Lashlee is becoming a football savant. Building a depleted running game and reducing key mistakes will be one of Lashlee’s biggest tasks in 2025. The defense seems to have improved, although question marks remain on the defensive line. But Lashlee is an analytical coach and has brought an inspirational winning spirit to the Hilltop.

The early media focus in the 2025 college football season has clearly been on the Longhorns’ Manning. He will be under immense pressure. Despite his inexperience, Manning is a top contender for the 2025 Heisman Trophy with Clemson QB Cade Klubnik, LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier and the Ohio State offensive tandem of QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith.

Manning was the most highly recruited high school football player in the U.S. in 2022 and chose to play at The University of Texas. Now it is time to see if Manning — figuratively to the tune of nearly $7 million — will pay off for the Longhorns.