After the Texas football team's heartbreaking loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, 27-24, a lot of blame has been put on star quarterback Arch Manning for the result. With the Texas football program on the wrong side of the Red River Rivalry this season, head coach Steve Sarkisian's defense of Manning would get blasted by a USA Today columnist.

College football writer Blake Toppmeyer wouldn't hold back in saying that Sarkisian made a “feeble attempt at gaslighting that only the most devoted Manning acolyte would believe.” He's referring to Sarkisian saying that more people would be praising Manning if his name were “Joe Smith.”

“I think if you took the name off the back of his jersey and you said, ‘Here’s Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas and here’s a guy who’s beaten four top-10 ranked teams in his last 13 starts,’ we’d be praising the guy,” Sarkisian said Monday. “But the expectations are high for him. He understands that.”

In the loss, Manning threw for 260 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, both of which happened in the fourth quarter that helped the Sooners claim the upset victory. Toppmeyer expressed that he doesn't “buy it”

“We wouldn’t be praising a Texas quarterback of any name after that Red River Rivalry meltdown,” Toppmeyer wrote.

How Texas football Arch Manning's surname has impacted him

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There's no denying that having a name like Manning on the back of a jersey could provide a great deal of pressure. However, while Toppmeyer would say that the surname “puts him under a higher degree of scrutiny,” it's also worked in his favor.”

“Arch Manning doesn’t have a surname problem. Let’s set that record straight,” Toppmeyer wrote. “Manning’s last name worked in his favor up to this point. Being a member of a famous football family helped his career. If the letters stitched across the back of his jersey said Matthews instead of Manning, he probably wouldn’t be starting at a school like Texas.”

Manning looks to prove doubters wrong by bouncing back with the Longhorns on Saturday afternoon against the University of Florida.