I'll just put this right here....
View attachment 374376
Fight nice boys....
On one hand, I feel bad for Arch, not like his dad is Peyton or Eli and he is the son of an nfl guy, he did not ask for the hype and he sure as **** didnt rank himself #1 in HS but he has had more consistent hype with inconsistent results than anyone I can remember. Hard to feel bad for a guy making that much to play a game, but taking it in a vacuum of him vs the other 100+ FBS QB's he is getting the short end of the stick.
On the other, stats dont always tell the whole story and I think this is one of those cases... Manning had two cupcakes in Texas State and UTSA to pad stats, Tx State 20-27 200 yds 4td 1 int, thats a fine stat line for a cupcake. UTSA 17-33 for 164 yds is yuck. But then two legit tough games against Tenn and Ohio State, both wins and he did just enough to win or didnt ***** up enough to be the reason they lost, however you wanna look at it.
Mateer by contrast had two cupcakes, UTEP went 11-17 for 225 and 3 tds, again fine for a cupcake, New mexico 19-25 238 yds 2td 2 int to me that is on par with UTSA with Manning, but then he plays a god awful michigan team and goes 17-33 for 189 1 int and 1 td and then UGA, tough task but 25-34 231 2tds 1 int, one of those tds came with 3 min left in the game when they were down 41-6. He also completely charlie brown-d a pass in the UGA 10 when they were down 14-0, legit threw air without the ball, UGA scoop and score 21-0. He also had a total of 3 fumbles against UGA, one they recovered tho.
Now I think neither is the QB putting their team on its back to elevate them, but if you swapped Mateer and Manning before the season I think 1. Manning looks worse but not AS BAD as Mateer, and Mateer has a few more "splash" plays with UT athletes but I genuinely think UT would lose a game because Mateer would just **** down his leg in a big moment, so far Manning has not done that.