Texas quarterback Arch Manning made his first visit to Neyland Stadium one to remember.
In front of a sold out crowd with ESPN's "College GameDay," and President Donald Trumppresent, the nephew of Tennessee football legend Peyton Manning led No. 1 Texas to a 20-17 victory over the No. 13 Vols on Sept. 26.
"Anytime you get an SEC road win in this type of environment against a team like that, it feels good," Manning said.
Peyton Manning, who made an appearance on "College GameDay" was in attendance but not on the ABC broadcast. Arch's father, Cooper, and grandfather, Archie, the patriarch of the Manning family, were among the family members highlighted from their seats in the stadium.
Arch Manning said earlier in the week that he never had been to
Knoxville despite his family ties.
Manning wasn't sentimental after completing 14 of 19 passes for 201 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.
"It was definitely a great crowd," Manning said. "Just glad we came out with a win."
Manning made a couple of mistakes like his early interception and two illegal forward pass penalties. But the Texas defense was suffocating and Manning was sharp on two touchdown drives at the start of the first quarter and the end of the fourth quarter.
It was far from his best performance but enough to get the job done. The Longhorns already own two of the more impressive individual wins in college football −a comeback against Ohio State and now this victory vs. UT.
"I think just being in these big time, close games is only going to help us because we’ve got a lot of big games coming up on our schedule," Manning said.
If there was any emotion about playing where his uncle starred for the Vols from 1994-97 and in the midst of such a charged atmosphere, Manning didn't let it show.
Instead, he leaned on two rushing touchdowns from running back Raleek Brown and a suffocating effort from the defense to another win.
"I think just being 4-0, having that confidence we can win in different ways and be unbreakable will give us the confidence going into (next week)," Manning said.
Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What Arch Manning said about first game in Neyland Stadium vs Tennessee football
