Just when you thought you got enough with El Assico over in Iowa City, think again, brother. Behold! The Most Sacred Arch Manning General Booty Fest! It was never even supposed to happen, but here we are! With Quinn Ewers ruled out for Texas' Week 4 home game vs. the ULM Warhawks, Manning was slotted into duty. As for Booty, he's the best thing the Warhawks got going for them under center.
It may be a cake walk for the No. 1 team in the nation on Saturday night, but this is a quarterback headline matchup game for the ages. If Manning shows out, we could get something like "Manning conquers Booty for Texas". Should he struggle, it may be something along the lines of "Arch is booty vs. Booty and the boys". But my favorite so far has to be "Booty is no match for Texas' golden Arch".
For a game that will probably get overshadowed by the big one going in Norman, we will have this one on the second screen for two reasons. One, we want to see how Manning looks in his first career start for Texas. The second, well, it has to be about the Booty playing for the other team. We know of Booty for his name and his tenure as Oklahoma's backup. He is also related to former USC star John David.
The Family History
The Mannings & the Bootys were always the two first families thought of in Louisiana QBs my entire life. Tomorrow history will be made in ULM at Texas as General will start for the Warhawks against Arch of the Longhorns.
I am not sure how the heck it is possible that Peyton or Eli Manning never played against Josh or John David Booty. Blows my mind really. Obviously General & ULM are up against it as 45 point underdogs tomorrow against the #1 ranked Horns but they play the game for a reason right?
The Matchup
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what on planet earth are we going to make of this game?
I think what this game is all about is what is next. For Texas, we know that Quinn Ewers is the starter for the rest of the season, assuming he is healthy... As for Manning, we all know that he is the future under center for the Longhorns. He may have a face last name, but the guy can really play. Just ask the UTSA Roadrunners about that. As for ULM and Booty, it is all about exposure ... in a good way!
The Future of College Football
Overall, this is kind of what you are always hoping for in a Power Four vs. Group of Five matchup. ULM may prefer to be called UL-Monroe or Louisiana Monroe, but you cannot put a price on going up against the No. 1 team in the nation with a Manning quarterbacking the Longhorns. Texas may wipe the floor with the Warhawks, but ULM will get paid to be there. Heck, they might even pull of an upset.
Ultimately, until we truly get schedule uniformity across the Power Four, we are always going to have games like this throughout the season. At some point, every Power Four league will go to nine conference games, as well as a pair of non-conference games against Power Four competition. This may open up one game like this again forever going forward, but these opportunities will be minimal.
The Booty Call
Check out the interview and good luck to General tomorrow. He is gonna need it.....
For now, let's just enjoy the best starting quarterback name matchup of the college football season.
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The Story Behind the Booty
Sarkisian, then an assistant coach at Southern Cal, recruited and coached John David Booty, who was under center for Evangel Christian. When faced with an opposition blitz, Booty's response was to back up farther in the shotgun, undaunted by the additional distance, looking for more time to load up his cannon of a right arm.
"They'd be about 9 yards deep and let it rip," Sarkisian said.
By the time Booty finished at USC, he ranked fifth in career completions (518) and passing yards (6,125).
When Sarkisian and his Longhorns (3-0) host Louisiana-Monroe (2-0) on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+, SEC+), he'll be greeted by an offense led by a familiar name.
General Booty, John David's nephew, is the starting quarterback for the Warhawks, helping bring that program into a new era under first-year coach Bryant Vincent.
"General can throw it; he can let it rip, and it's very natural for him," Sarkisian said. "It's not like he's working too hard to throw the ball and make reads and throw under duress."
The Warhawks Are On the Rise
Booty has helped bring some much-needed stability to a ULM offense that floundered under former coach Terry Bowden. From 2020 to 2023, the Warhawks never averaged more than 22.3 points, coming in under the 20-point threshold twice.
Things look different under Vincent. ULM scored 30 points in a season-opening victory over Football Championship Series opponent Jackson State and then pounded Trent Dilfer's UAB team 32-6 in Week 2.
And the Warhawks have done that by keeping things simple for Booty, who transferred in the offseason from Oklahoma. (He didn't throw a pass in two seasons as a Sooner.) Booty has attempted a grand total of three passes 10 yards or farther down the field through two starts. It's not the gunslinging approach Sarkisian remembers from Booty's uncle, but it's working.
He is completing 63.3% of his passes, with 191 yards and one touchdown on the season. After turning the ball over 18 times in 12 games last year, ULM has not yet given the ball away.
The Run-Heavy Offense
Though potentially skewed by the game script, the numbers show that the Warhawks operate one of the most run-heavy offenses in the country. ULM has run the ball nearly 45 times per game this season to rank 12th nationally. By contrast, only the three Division I service academies are attempting fewer passing plays per game than the Warhawks' 15.5.
True freshman running back Ahmad Hardy leads the ULM backfield. He's rushed for 161 yards on 33 carries, finding the end zone twice. James Jones, a junior college product, has been slightly more efficient. He's carried the ball 20 times for 110 yards and a touchdown through two games.
Texas is Ready for the Challenge
The Longhorns, though, have proved they can handle that type of approach. Against Michigan, which won a national championship last season thanks mostly to a powerful rushing attack, Texas allowed just 3.5 yards per carry.
In the past two weeks, Texas has been particularly impressive defending the run on third down. In nine opportunities on third down with fewer than 4 yards to go, UTSA and Michigan converted just twice.
"I think we've played really good short-yardage defense," Sarkisian said this week. "That's something that we take a lot of pride in. We've been good the last couple years. We lost a couple of really good players that made some of those plays: T'Vondre Sweat, Byron Murphy. But you turn around and you come to this year, and we've been playing really well in short yardage again. Alfred Collins, most notably, has been playing really well there."
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What They Are Saying
"He's way faster than me and (John David) and he's smart," Josh Booty said. "I just hope he can play OK against Texas."
"With Arch getting his first start, and now Texas moving up to No. 1 this week, we know there's gonna be a lot of people watching," General Booty said. "We're all excited to play on that stage. No one's really expecting us to win or even to put up much of a fight. Obviously, Texas is a great test to see how far we've come. We're gonna let it all loose. We've got nothing to lose. Everyone's really fired up for that environment. We just want to go out there to go compete and show people what we've got."
(Photos of Arch Manning, General Booty: Scott Wachter / USA Today, Lauren Witte / Clarion Ledger / USA Today Network)
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Bruce Feldman is the National College Football Insider for The Athletic. One of the sport’s leading voices, he also is a sideline reporter for FOX College Football. Bruce has covered college football nationally for more than 20 years and is the author of numerous books on the topic, including "Swing Your Sword: Leading The Charge in Football and Life" with Mike Leach and most recently "The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks." Follow Bruce on Twitter @BruceFeldmanCFB
