Paul Finebaum Catches More Strays After Arch Manning Betrayed by His Own People

Texas slogged through a shaky first half against UTEP, leading 7-3 at the break after Arch Manning opened the scoring with a 2-yard keeper to cap a 9-play, 53-yard drive at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium. The rhythm wasn’t there through the air, and the game script reflected it. Punts, short fields, and a defense-led grind left the margin uncomfortably thin heading into halftime, putting the focus on whether the offense could settle in after the break and stack clean possessions.

By intermission, the stat line told the story of the struggle and the narrow edge. Manning’s first half featured a 5-for-16 passing line for 69 yards with an interception, offset by timely legs and the early goal-line keeper that set the tone for how Texas would need to score while the passing game searched for rhythm. The play-by-play showed choppiness, with drives stalling and the Longhorns leaning on field position and defense more than explosives to safeguard the lead before the locker room reset. The tension was about a sequence of empty possessions that put more stress on situational football than anyone expected against an overmatched opponent on paper.

The crowd made that tension audible, and it wasn’t subtle. Boos followed another three-and-out, a rare sound at DKR for a highly touted starter in a game billed as routine business, as multiple outlets noted during the first-half lull. The mood spilled onto social media within minutes, with Thomas Goldkamp posting, “Can’t say I recall Tim Tebow ever getting booed,” a line that captured how quickly patience thinned and comparisons sharpened when the offense went cold. Paul Finebaum caught strays for months of marquee hype that now read like kindling when drives fizzled and a restless fanbase wanted answers more than projections.

Finebaum’s name became a proxy for the bigger conversation. He has shifted tone on-air as the season has opened, and those pivots have been held up against the summer crescendo that surrounded Arch Manning’s ascension to QB1. The Tebow thread was inevitable, too. Finebaum’s chatter framed the Arch’s debut as “Tebow-level hysteria” if this era took off. And that labelnow feels like a burden rather than a badge on nights when the offense fights itself more than the opponent. Hype writes checks; performance decides if they clear.

Fair or not, the gap between projection and performance defines the conversation today. ESPN’s conference QB tiers left Manning outside the top five, and national voices have cooled early Heisman chatter after uneven stretches, even as flashes and rushing utility offer paths forward if the passing game steadies week to week. The surname guaranteed an unforgiving lens, but consistency is the currency, and sustaining drives, making on-time decisions, and hitting routine throws are the quickest ways to flip the script before conference play hardens. There’s time to recalibrate the narrative, but nights like this remind everyone that boos and memes arrive faster than patience, and only clean, boring, winning quarterback play turns down the volume in Austin again.

Brakes on the Manning hype train

The Arch Manning hype train has been wobbling for weeks, and a few prominent voices started tapping the brakes before the latest twists. DawgNation’s Kaylee Mansell said plainly, “My bold take is Arch Manning does not make the Heisman Trophy ceremony,” while Chris Doering doubled down elsewhere, explaining he’d “cut” Arch in a Start/Bench/Cut with DJ Lagway and Garrett Nussmeier because those two are simply more proven right now. After getting rattled by Ohio State, Manning flashed back against San Jose State, 153 yards and four touchdowns in the first 18 minutes, only to toss a first‑half interception that kept the critiques humming. Fair or not, that’s where the bar sits: big plays are expected, mistakes are magnified, and the conversation rarely waits for context.

Well, Paul Finebaum, long one of the loudest amplifiers of Manning’s ceiling, is now nudging everyone toward patience. “To doing things that we expected of him, and ultimately, Arch is going to be tested when they have a good opponent, which they won’t for another couple of weeks. I suspect he’ll be a lot better,” Finebaum said, a reality check wrapped in encouragement. It’s notable coming from someone who once leaned into the “best player” tag in the post‑Tebow vacuum, because the message now is about cadence: stack growth, beat who’s in front, then let the real judgments land when the schedule stiffens.

That’s probably the sanest place to park expectations, too. The surname guarantees an unforgiving spotlight, and the summer noise made a Heisman march feel more like a mandate than a hope. Manning has shown why the buzz exists, arm talent, poise in rhythm, plus the legs to stress defenses, but the job now is boring and brutal: consistency against good teams, clean decisions under pressure, and no cheap turnovers when scripts tilt. If that arrives, the hype will chase production again. If it doesn’t, the debate will drift to other names in the race and a simple question that stings a little in Austin: was the hype ever fair, or just too loud, too soon?