College Football Odds: Will Arch Manning propel the Texas Longhorns to the College Football Playoff?
On Thursday, highly-touted recruit Arch Manning committed to Texas. What impact did this have on the Longhorns' college football odds? Jason Radowitz takes a look.
Jason Radowitz
| 5 minutes
Will Arch Manning propel the Texas Longhorns to the College Football Playoff?
The Texas Longhorns are having the best day that they've had in quite some time. The number one recruit in the country, Arch Manning, has made the decision to commit to Texas to be a Longhorn. He's currently labeled as a five-star quarterback and also labeled as the best recruit in 2023. Arch is going to look to keep the Manning legacy alive. But don't get it mistaken. Arch is not Peyton or Eli's son. Instead, he's their nephew. But he's still a Manning and, again, was rated as the best quarterback and overall player in his class of 2023.
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Is Texas Closer to Making College Football Playoff?
Steve Sarkisian took over Texas as the new head coach last season and helped them to a 5-7 record. That wasn't good enough to be bowl eligible and clearly didn't reach the standard that is expected at Texas. Sarkisian has a career record of 51-42 as a head coach, which is winning about 55% of games. He's probably a bit overrated as a coach, but his recruiting skills just shined with the addition of Manning. Per ESPN, Texas now has the 10th best-recruiting class in 2023. Obviously, this is mainly because of Manning, proving that the rest of the class might not be as talented. But with the Manning signing, Texas should be able to put their best foot forward to recruit higher-level players. This could end up being a domino effect. There are currently still about half of the ESPN Top 300 uncommitted in the 2023 class. Texas can still make a splash. And for those wondering, Texas will not be competing in the SEC until 2025. There is a chance that Manning can finish his career with Texas in the SEC. That would be very entertaining, but for now, once he's playing for Texas, he'll be able to dissect a usually weak Big-12 that tends to lack defense. Texas will be bowl eligible with Manning under center. But the defense needs to improve along with a whole lot of other areas for Texas to make it far. After all, you don't need a top quarterback to win the College Football Playoff. Just like at Georgia last season. The question remains whether or not Texas will be able to improve on the defensive end and other areas on the field. One player doesn't fix a 5-7 team.
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