The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Football’s Manning named to Davey O’Brien Award’s Postseason Great 8
01.26.2026 | Football
Manning is one of eight quarterbacks recognized by the Davey O’Brien Award for their postseason performances.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Football sophomore QB Arch Manning was named to the Davey O'Brien Award's Postseason Great 8 after his performance in UT's Cheez-It Citrus Bowl win over No. 18/17/18 Michigan on Dec. 31, the Davey O'Brien Foundation announced Monday.
In addition to Manning, the quarterbacks included on the Postseason Great 8 list are Miami's Carson Beck, Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, Utah's Devon Dampier, Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Oregon's Dante Moore, TCU's Ken Seals and Houston's Conner Weigman.
Manning was also named one of 15 finalists for the Manning Award on Jan. 8.
In leading the Longhorns to the 41-27 win against the Wolverines, Manning was named MVP after connecting on 21-of-34 passes for 221 yards and two scores while adding a career-high 155 yards on the ground with two touchdowns, accounting for 376 yards of total offense and four touchdowns. Manning hit TE Jack Endries for a 17-yard touchdown with 7:41 remaining in the second quarter to even the score at 17-17. His second touchdown came on a 23-yard run with 4:38 left in the third quarter to put the Horns in front, 24-20. Down 27-24, Manning found freshman WR Kaliq Lockett for a 30-yard passing touchdown with 6:54 left in the ballgame to put Texas in the lead, 31-27. Manning then clinched the win with a season-high 60-yard rushing touchdown with 5:06 remaining for a 38-27 lead. His 60-yard run tied Vince Young for the third-longest run by any Longhorn player in a bowl game.
With the performance vs. Michigan, Manning became the only FBS or NFL QB in the last 30 seasons to have a game with 200-plus passing yards, 150-plus rushing yards, multiple passing touchdowns, multiple rushing touchdowns, no sacks, and no turnovers while averaging 15-plus yards per rush. Manning became just the fifth Texas QB to register a game with at least 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, joining Sam Ehlinger, Colt McCoy, Vince Young and Donnie Little. After throwing for 221 yards, Manning surpassed 3,000 yards for the season to become the seventh Longhorn QB to throw for 3,000 yards in a season, joining Colt McCoy (2007-09), Sam Ehlinger (2018-19), Quinn Ewers (2023-24), Major Applewhite (1999), Chris Simms (2002) and Vince Young (2005). Manning notched his seventh game of the season with both a passing and rushing touchdown, including his third-straight game and 10th of his career accomplishing those feats. It was also his seventh multi-passing touchdown of the season.
Over the last six games that were capped by the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, Manning generated 1,714 passing yards (286 per game) and 205 rushing yards while averaging 320 yards of total offense per game and 20 total touchdowns (14 passing, five rushing and one receiving).
In 13 total starts, Manning completed 248-of-404 passes (61.39 percent) for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns, averaging 243.31 yards per contest. Also a threat with his legs, the New Orleans native was Texas' second leading rusher in 2025 after recording 399 yards (92 attempts) and a team-best 10 rushing touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per run. Manning had three games with at least 300 passing yards and three touchdown passes without an interception, which tied for the most such games by any Power Conference quarterback during the regular season (Baylor's Sawyer Robertson and Ohio State's Julian Sayin) and is the most in a season by a Longhorn since Major Applewhite in 1999. He also holds the highest career passing touchdown percentage at home by an active Power Four Conference quarterback at 9.5 percent.
In his first full season as a starter at Texas, Manning guided the Longhorns to a 10-3 overall record to clinch UT's third-straight 10-win season – its most since 2007-09. Texas finished the season winning seven of its last eight games in addition to four AP Top-20 wins. The Longhorns went 5-2 against Top-20 opponents this season with three of those wins coming against top-10 teams.
