Steve Sarkisian Says Arch Manning Would Be Getting Praised If His Name Was 'Joe Smith'

Oh, boy.

Listen, I can appreciate a coach defending his players. Even in an age when college quarterbacks are making millions of dollars a year, it's still a lot for any college kid to be getting blasted everywhere you look. But Steve Sarkisian just made things even worse on his quarterback.

Arch Manning has been bad this season. Full stop. His 65.5 QBR ranks 44th in college football, behind guys like Ryan Browne (Purdue), Brad Jackson (Texas State) and Jared Hollins (South Alabama). Are those guys having praise heaped upon them like Manning allegedly would if his name was Joe Smith?

Would we be praising Joe Smith for this back-breaking pick six to lose a rivalry game to a team that refuses to score offensively that has now thrown a season with sky-high expectations into turmoil?

If Arch's name was Joe Smith, he'd probably be in danger of getting benched right now and exploring a career with the Savannah Bananas.

And I feel bad for the kid. He obviously has an undue amount of attention on him because of his name, but maybe he should have been developed at some point throughout his four years at Texas by a supposedly great coaching staff? Then everyone would be getting praised and you wouldn't be losing to a terrible Oklahoma team.

I don't know, man. Maybe everyone in Austin would be thrilled with 10 TD and 5 INT from Joe Smith in a season he was supposed to be a Heisman contender on a national championship-caliber team. Somehow I doubt it, though.