Back to No. 1 and back to the field for Arch Manning and Texas Longhorns against UTSA

AUSTIN, Texas -- — The excitement around Texas rising to No. 1 after beating Ohio State had barely reached its peak before landing with a thud barely 48 hours later. Arch Manning's joking comments at a news conference about a fake video of coach Steve Sarkisian slapping ESPN reporter Holly Rowe erupted in controversy. Manning apologized the next day. Rowe graciously accepted. It was a public relations blunder for one of the most prominent players in the country, one that could stick with him for a while. But Manning can try to turn the spotlight that follows him back to football when Texas (2-0) hosts UTSA (2-0) Saturday night in the Longhorns' final nonconference game. This week marks the third time in three years Texas has been ranked No. 1 at some point in the season. The previous two times, the Longhorns' stay at the top was brief. In 2024, the ride lasted about a month. Last season, it didn't last past the first game. “Number one doesn’t mean anything until we get to the playoffs,” Longhorns defensive tackle Hero Kanu said said. “All these in-season rankings don’t mean anything until it gets to the playoffs. At the end of the day, nobody remembers No. 2. Nobody remembers No. 3.” UTSA is a program that had the swagger of would-be giant killers when the Roadrunners went 23-5 over the 2021-22 seasons. UTSA hasn't kept up that kind of winning of late, but consecutive bowl wins the last three seasons has Texas' attention. And like Texas against Ohio State, UTSA won last week at Texas State on a touchdown in the final minute. Texas is a heavy favorite. Sarkisian refuses to take any opponent for granted. “A week ago, the narrative was we can’t win the big game,” Sarkisian said. “The opinion now is we’re the best team in the country, allegedly, and so everybody is patting us on the back.” Hands on the ball The comeback against Ohio State would not have happened if not for a couple of lucky bounces in the second half. Twice Texas recovered its own fumbles on second-half scoring drives, including one on the play before Hollywood Smothers scored the winning touchdown with 25 seconds left. Texas fumbled four times against Ohio State but recovered them all. “Our ball security is not good enough to be a championship team,” Sarkisian said. Quarterbacks in the family tree Manning's uncles Peyton and Eli played in the NFL and won Super Bowls. Roadrunners quarterback Owen McCown's father Josh played in the NFL for 18 seasons with 12 teams. His uncle Luke McCown played for five teams over a 12-year career. Through two games, Manning has passed for 500 yards and five touchdowns. McCown has passed for 498 yards and four TDs. Double the running backs Texas invested heavily its run game by signing transfers Raleek Brown and Smothers. Brown averaged 5.4 yards on 10 carries against Ohio State. Smothers scored twice in the fourth quarter. UTSA struggled to stop the run last week against Texas State, allowing 258 yards on the ground. Keeping it clean Through the first two games, Texas has shed some of its old penalty problems. Last season, Texas ranked 132nd nationally in penalty yards and was flagged 18 times for 165 yards in the first two games. Through the first two games this year, Texas has just six penalties for 47 yards. Keeping Manning upright Texas has allowed three sacks through the first two games. The protection of Manning has been a huge improvement over 2025, when the Heisman contender spent the first half of the season on the run. But it hasn't been all clean — Manning wore a sleeve on his left arm to cover some turf burn from a sideline hit he took while scrambling. ------ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here