Urban Meyer knows a thing or two about winning college football games, as he collected three National Championships during his time as the head coach at Florida and Ohio State.
Now that he is in the media instead of on the sideline, he has a lot of insight to offer when it comes to evaluating talent, and he recently made a big prediction about Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who entered the season as a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and disappointed in a season-opening 14-7 loss at Ohio State.
Meyer stopped by Thursday morning’s episode of The Herd and told Colin Cowherd that Manning wasn’t ready for that matchup and will be a “much different player in 4-5 weeks.”
"He'll be a much different player in 4-5 weeks. He wasn't ready for that."@colincowherd and @CoachUrbanMeyer talk about Arch Manning's performance in the loss to Ohio State pic.twitter.com/Z8eOz6oRaU
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) September 4, 2025
There is certainly reason to believe that Manning will be better than he was against the Buckeyes, because going on the road in your first start as the full-time starter against the defending national champions and their stellar defense is about as tough a matchup as you could ever envision.
That being said, with extraordinary hype comes extraordinary expectations, and for a player who comes from quarterback royalty and shares a last name with a pair of two-time Super Bowl champions, those expectations aren’t always going to be reasonable.
After spending two years as a backup, it was fair to expect Manning to be further along in his development than he looked against Ohio State, and he has three cupcake matchups up next on the schedule in San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston before his next big tests in Florida and Oklahoma.
He’d better look like a different quarterback in 4-5 weeks, because if he doesn’t his supporters might be out of excuses.
NEXT: Scouting Director Gives Honest Thoughts On Arch Manning
