Urban Meyer believes Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning has to "play great" against Ryan Day's Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 1 of the college football season, not just because of his legacy and family reputation, but also the high bar that's been set for him.
If the Longhorns take a loss in Columbus in Week 1 of the 2025 season, Meyer believes the talking heads will tear him apart amidst his Heisman ambitions.
“A player with that name and that background and the expectations put on him, he’s going to have to play great,” Meyer said on “The Triple Option” podcast. “And he’s picking a tough team to play great at, in a tough environment.
“If he struggles, mark this down, there’s gonna be a lot of pressure on that player, unfair pressure. Because he is a hell of a player. Is he going to win the Heisman? I mean, those are big, big questions asked.”
Of course, there are probably just as many, if not more, expectations for Day and the defending College Football Playoff champs.
Day didn't beat Michigan during a down year for the Wolverines and hasn't won that matchup in the 2020s. Losing Week 1 to Texas would fire back up the worries that he's not the right man for the job. Especially because it'd probably be because he hired Matt Patricia, and the defense fell apart.
With the pressure so high on both sides, the college football gods gave Week 1 the ultimate matchup: a rematch from one of the only competitive games during the first 12-team CFP field with multiple Heisman candidates on the field at the same time.
Meyer's warning to Manning makes a ton of sense in the context of getting in the enemy's head. You know Meyer is still a Buckeye deep down.