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By Jayesh Pagar
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Steve Sarkisian spent the week demanding more from Arch Manning.
On Saturday night in Austin, he got it, and he said so bluntly.
No. 19 Texas held off No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27 and snapped a two-game skid.
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Sarkisian made clear which version of his quarterback he wants: the swaggering, almost arrogant one. He explained why in his postgame comments, per ESPN’s Dave Wilson:
“One thing I know about Arch Manning, he’s a fighter.”
The backdrop made it sharper. Earlier in the week, Sarkisian said he needed to see a better version of Manning. Reports said backup KJ Lacey was getting more first-team reps after losses to Oklahoma and Florida.
Manning responded with 212 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-30 passing, plus two rushing scores. One was a high-stepping bootleg that made it 31-24 with 8:04 left.
It wasn’t clean. Manning had three turnovers, a fumble and two interceptions, though Sarkisian credited Ole Miss’ defense on the picks. After the second one, Texas threw just once and leaned on Raleek Brown, who ran for 157 yards.
Manning’s attitude changed this game more than his production did, and Sarkisian essentially admitted it. He said the edge carried over to the entire roster:
"The edginess that I touched on, I think, carried over to our team, I think our team played that way because of him. When he responds that way, when he plays that way, when he shows that fire in his belly that he had tonight, I think the team responds to that." Steve Sarkisian said, as per ESPN.
Texas now turns its attention to Mississippi State, which visits Austin on Oct. 31. The matchup offers Arch Manning an early opportunity to demonstrate that the performance against Ole Miss was not an isolated one.
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