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Monday, September 14, 2026

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Arch Manning had a good laugh over AI edit of Steve Sarkisian slapping Holly Rowe

Steve Sarkisian blowing off ESPN reporter Holly Rowe after Texas’s comeback win over Ohio State on Saturday was bad form, and he received plenty of pushback...

· 399 words

Steve Sarkisian blowing off ESPN reporter Holly Rowe after Texas 's comeback win over Ohio State on Saturday was bad form, and he received plenty of pushback in the days since.

In the Longhorns locker room, however, it sounds like it's been all laughs and giggles over the incident.

Texas quarterback Arch Manning met with the media on Monday to discuss his performance in the come-from-behind victory after he led the Longhorns on three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

At one point, Manning was presumably asked about the incident after the win, in which Sarkisian blew off Rowe during the post-game interview opportunity, gave the camera the Horns Up gesture, and then ran off (this coming after he was curt with Laura Rutledge at halftime ). While many called the move rude and classless , that was apparently nothing compared to what people were doing with the clip online.

"I've seen a few AI edits and stuff, but that's about it. I saw AI edits of Sark's interview," Manning told reporters on Monday. After someone in the room referenced a specific AI version, Manning asked, "Have ya'll seen that one? That's a good one," and laughed, adding, "Of him slapping Holly Rowe?"

As the mention of a video showing the Texas coach slapping a female ESPN reporter makes a few other people in the room chuckle, Manning turns to someone off camera before looking forward and adding, "It's hilarious."

One would think it would go without saying that admitting publicly that you thought a video of your football coach slapping a woman was hilarious is a bad idea, but we live in "interesting times." Even the X post sharing the clip, from On3's Inside Texas reporter Evan Vieth, sells his answer as "gold."

The 22-year-old may not be a full-grown man yet, but he should know better, and it reflects poorly on the adults in that room and on the Texas coaching staff that they'd all feel comfortable joking about something like that, especially given the Manning family's history around football and sexual harassment allegations . To say nothing of the fact that we're weeks out from the Good Good Golf controversy that effectively ruined that company .

It's a bad look for Manning, a bad look for Texas football, and a bad look for men in general at a time when that's unfortunately par for the course.

Gathered from external sources. Rights to this text belong to whoever originally published it.