Paul Finebaum: Texas is 'in a spot' to climb mountain, win national championship with Arch Manning

Paul Finebaum has a fascination with Texas and Arch Manning this season, to no one’s surprise. After waxing poetic last season, to which Finebaum made self-deprecating jokes about, the Longhorns might have a more legitimate shot at winning the national title in 2026.

Finebaum just claimed he was a little early on the Texas and Manning hype last season. But with a year under his belt and some reinforcements on the way, Manning, Steve Sarkisian and Texas could be at the top of college football by the time we get to January.

But the ESPN commentator still has questions. That’s why he’s most fascinated by the team from Austin at SEC Media Days coming up.

“(I am) pretty fascinated by Texas and Arch Manning, and I know I’ve gone to the high hanging fruit there, but a year ago they were put in that position that they certainly weren’t ready for,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “You often see this in other sports where a guy has the lead at Augusta and the PGA in the final round and he shoots 78. He comes back the next year in the exact same place and wins. And I feel like Texas is in that spot. Their schedule is really daunting, but I’m curious what Steve Sarkisian has to say, because there’s a little bit of chirping out there about him, and I don’t think it’s justified.” 

Finebaum noted how Sarkisian has been successful at Texas despite the lack of a national title. With running it back one more time with Manning on the table, the Longhorns are in a position to win it all.

“He’s still been to the playoffs twice. Last year was not a disaster, in spite of the opening loss, and then the Florida loss, but I think they have the capacity to win the national championship,” Finebaum said. “I just want to know what is different, and I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about Will Muschamp. I’m sure we’ll hear a lot about Cam Coleman, Hollywood Smothers, a lot of names that are probably going to make them a little better, a much better team, I should say.”

Fans held their collective breath in the spring, though, as Manning missed some practices due to injury. But Sarkisian said the key to the national title hopes is fine and fans were overreacting.

“I’d say on Arch, just in general, because I’ve heard some of the same sentiment you heard,” Sarkisian told Craig Way of AM 1300 The Zone. “People are overreacting way too much to this. The guy had a foot issue that we didn’t want to do last year, obviously, right before the season or during the season. We waited until after the season. He could’ve been back in spring practice, probably in Week 3. But again, he’s in Year 4 in our system… Rest assured, Arch Manning is fine. He looks great.”