On a day when Dabo Swinney’s 1-3 Clemson Tigers pounded Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels 38-10, and Arch Manning threw two interceptions in the first SEC loss of his career to a 1-3 Florida team to temporarily save Billy Napier’s, somehow, James Franklin and Penn State became the top story.
It would have been nearly impossible for Manning to live up to all the offseason hype heading into his first year as Texas’s starting quarterback, hailing him as the Heisman Trophy favorite and No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, few would have foreseen the preseason No.