No Manning has played a game in Tiger Stadium since Eli Manning’s Ole Miss Rebels lost 14-13 there in November 2002. That run ends Saturday, when Arch Manning leads the Texas Longhorns into Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers, and the New Orleans native was asked Monday what the trip means to him.
“We’re trying to go 1-0 this week. I don’t have any legacy [at LSU]. I have no family who went to LSU. I’m from New Orleans, which is an hour from Baton Rouge. So, there’s no connection. It’s not about me,” Manning told reporters.
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His grandfather Archie Manning and uncle Eli Manning played quarterback at Ole Miss, his uncle Peyton Manning played for the Tennessee Volunteers, and his father, Cooper Manning, signed with Ole Miss before spinal stenosis ended his career. Nobody in the family has worn purple and gold.
Archie led Ole Miss to a 27-24 win in Tiger Stadium in 1968, capping it with a 75-yard drive in the final minutes, and returned in 1970 playing with a cast on his broken left arm in a 61-17 loss. Eli won 35-24 at LSU in 2001 against Nick Saban’s Tigers, throwing three touchdown passes, two of them in the fourth quarter to erase a 24-21 deficit, then lost the 14-13 game a year later.
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That leaves the Mannings 2-2 in Tiger Stadium, all four games played from the visitors’ sideline. The family’s ties to Baton Rouge are those of an opponent, which fits the way Arch framed the week, and it is the same hostile setting Texas walks into on Saturday.
“I don’t think he gives a crap, I’ll be honest with you. I just think Arch is immersed in this team and in being a really good player. I really think he’s thinking about what coverages they’re going to play, what tip he can pick up on what coverage they’re in,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday.
Manning went 28 of 38 for 297 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s come-from-behind win at the Missouri Tigers, which moved Texas to 7-2 after a two-game losing streak in October. LSU is 6-3 and coming off a 31-13 home loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide, so the loser on Saturday takes a serious hit to its College Football Playoff hopes.
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LSU coach Lane Kiffin recruited Manning at Ole Miss before the quarterback chose Texas. “I think he’s an awesome kid and I hope he does really well, obviously outside of Saturday,” Kiffin said.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC, and it will be the Longhorns’ first trip to Tiger Stadium since 1953.
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