Arch Manning Heads to Tennessee With Peyton, President Trump and 100,000 Fans Watching
· Yahoo Sports
Arch Manning has played in big football games.
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He has started at Ohio State and Georgia. He has played in the Red River Rivalry. He has beaten Texas A&M and Michigan. Two weeks ago, he rallied Texas from behind in the fourth quarter to beat then-No. 1 Ohio State.
None of those games looked quite like the one awaiting him Saturday.
No. 1 Texas travels to No. 14 Tennessee for a noon ET kickoff at Neyland Stadium in what was already one of the biggest games of the college football weekend.
Then the guest list got even bigger.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend, the University of Tennessee announced Wednesday, bringing enhanced Secret Service security to a stadium that seats more than 100,000.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be there, too, with its final hour originating from inside Neyland Stadium.
And so will Peyton Manning.
The legendary Tennessee quarterback and Arch’s uncle will join Pat McAfee for a segment on GameDay before watching his nephew become the latest Manning to play quarterback inside Neyland Stadium.
If all of that weren’t enough, it is the first regular-season meeting ever between Texas and Tennessee and the SEC opener for both undefeated teams.
Yet beneath all the spectacle is a fairly straightforward football question.
Can Arch Manning play his best football on the road?
Because he didn’t consistently do it last season.
Arch Manning’s road numbers tell a different story
Manning enters Saturday with a 13-3 record as Texas’ starting quarterback, including a 3-0 start this season.
But five of his most difficult afternoons in 2025 came away from Austin.
In five true road starts last season, Manning completed 101 of 175 passes — 57.7% — for 1,162 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions.
Texas went 2-3 in those games.
The losses came at Ohio State, Florida and Georgia.
At Ohio State, Manning completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards with one touchdown and one interception in a 14-7 loss.
At Florida, he threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted twice and sacked six times as Texas lost 29-21.
At Georgia, Manning completed 27 of 43 passes for 251 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Texas scored only 10 points in a 35-10 loss.
Even one of the victories wasn’t particularly convincing offensively. Manning completed 12 of 27 passes for 132 yards without a touchdown at Kentucky before Texas escaped 16-13.
There was one major exception.
Manning threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns at Mississippi State, helping Texas rally for a 45-38 overtime victory.
So this isn’t evidence that Manning can’t play on the road.
It is evidence that his performance has been considerably less predictable there.
Now comes Neyland Stadium.
Texas hasn’t seen this version of Arch Manning on the road
Saturday will be Texas’ first road game of 2026.
Manning has been somewhat uneven through three games, completing 59 of 96 passes for 661 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
The numbers don’t fully capture the extremes.
He opened the season by throwing for 305 yards and four touchdowns against Texas State.
Against Ohio State, Manning struggled for much of the afternoon before helping engineer a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback. Texas scored 21 unanswered points to erase a 23-3 deficit and win 24-23.
Then came last week’s 30-6 victory over UTSA.
Manning completed only 16 of 32 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns as the Texas offense struggled to generate explosive plays. His longest completion gained 24 yards.
Texas won comfortably because its defense overwhelmed UTSA, limiting the Roadrunners to 143 total yards.
That luxury isn’t guaranteed Saturday.
Tennessee is 3-0, and freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has given the Volunteers an additional dimension offensively. Brandon has thrown six touchdown passes without an interception while also rushing for 137 yards and three scores.
If Tennessee puts points on the board, Texas may need Manning to do much more than manage the afternoon.
Peyton Manning will be rooting against Tennessee — sort of
There might not be a stranger sight Saturday than Peyton Manning watching a quarterback wearing orange inside Neyland Stadium and hoping Tennessee doesn’t beat him.
Peyton starred for the Volunteers from 1994-97, throwing for 11,201 yards and 89 touchdowns before becoming the No. 1 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.
His No. 16 is retired by Tennessee.
Arch also wears No. 16.
And, remarkably, Arch said this week he has never even been to Knoxville.
That changes Saturday.
Peyton settled the inevitable question about his rooting interest months ago.
He said during the Manning Passing Academy in June that although he loves Tennessee, family takes precedence and he pulls hard for Arch every Saturday.
The family has been here before.
Archie Manning starred at Ole Miss, yet rooted for Peyton’s Tennessee teams when the Volunteers played the Rebels in 1996 and 1997.
Now Peyton gets his turn.
ESPN is leaning into the connection. Peyton will appear on “College GameDay,” although Knoxville native Johnny Knoxville — not Manning — will serve as the show’s guest picker.
Then Peyton can become Uncle Peyton again.
Donald Trump adds another layer to an already enormous event
Saturday was already going to require considerable event management in Knoxville.
Trump’s planned attendance makes it something altogether different.
The University of Tennessee has advised fans to arrive “significantly earlier” than they would for a normal home game because of enhanced security.
All Neyland Stadium gates will open at 9 a.m., three hours before kickoff, and the school says Secret Service Police will conduct enhanced screening at every stadium entrance.
That means Manning won’t simply be walking into his first game at Neyland Stadium.
He’ll be doing it during what amounts to one of the largest sporting events in the country Saturday, with a sitting president in attendance, College GameDay broadcasting from the stadium and national television cameras following virtually everything surrounding the Manning family’s return to Knoxville.
The atmosphere would be a lot for any quarterback.
For one named Manning, it will be unavoidable.
There’s also a fight over who gets to be called UT
Texas and Tennessee have somehow existed as major college football programs for more than a century without ever playing a regular-season game.
Their three previous meetings all occurred in the Cotton Bowl.
The last was Jan. 1, 1969.
Now they’re conference opponents.
And they share more than that.
Both schools use “UT.” Both wear orange. Both have enormous football traditions and fan bases that don’t tend to lack confidence.
ESPN has even built a GameDay feature around the question of which school deserves to be called the “real UT.”
Saturday won’t legally settle anything.
It will provide bragging rights.
And for the first time since Texas joined the SEC, the Longhorns will walk into Neyland Stadium wearing their version of orange and attempt to beat Tennessee at home.
Steve Sarkisian isn’t buying the road narrative
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was asked this week about his team’s road struggles from last season.
He pushed back.
“I get it, we didn’t play well at Florida last year,” Sarkisian said. “But we are 13-3 in SEC play, which is the best record in the conference, in our two years in the conference. So I’m very confident in our ability to go on the road and play well.”
That’s fair.
Texas’ problems in those games weren’t exclusively Manning’s. Protection broke down at times. The Longhorns struggled to establish the run in others. And road losses at Ohio State and Georgia aren’t exactly disqualifying blemishes.
There is also evidence Manning grew from those experiences.
His performance against Mississippi State showed he could rescue Texas in a hostile environment. His fourth-quarter comeback against Ohio State two weeks ago showed something arguably more important: he didn’t need to play well for four quarters to deliver when Texas desperately needed him.
That may be the lesson that matters most Saturday.
Neyland Stadium is the perfect test
Manning doesn’t need to throw for 400 yards against Tennessee.
He doesn’t need to match Peyton’s greatest performances in the stadium.
And he certainly doesn’t need to impress the president sitting somewhere above the field.
He needs to do something much more important for Texas.
Handle the noise.
Avoid the early mistake that turns 100,000 people into 100,000 believers.
Keep Texas out of obvious passing situations.
And if Tennessee creates the kind of fourth-quarter game Ohio State did two weeks ago, make the throws that separate the No. 1 team in the country from everyone chasing it.
The Manning name guarantees Arch will be one of the most watched players in college football regardless of where he plays.
Saturday takes that attention to another level.
His uncle will be there.
College GameDay will be there.
President Trump will be there.
More than 100,000 Tennessee fans will be there.
And for the first time in his life, Arch Manning will be at Neyland Stadium.
He just happens to be wearing the wrong shade of orange.
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