By JIM VERTUNO and BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writers
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Arch Manning is intimately familiar with Saturday nights in “Death Valley,” having been in the stands for some of LSU’s biggest games in Tiger Stadium during his childhood in Louisiana.
He was one of those kids playing pickup football, sometimes even dressed in purple and gold, amid the tents bustling with Tiger fans tail-gaiting over spreads of shrimp etouffee, fried catfish, gumbo and jambalaya.
For sons of the Bayou State, LSU games are “the main show” and center of the football universe.
“That’s who you want to be,” Manning said. “That’s where you want to go.”
Yet Manning ultimately chose Texas instead. And he’ll return to LSU on Saturday night as quarterback of the No. 8 Longhorns (7-2, 4-2 Southeastern Conference, No. 6 CFP) in Act III of the Manning family legacy tour.
Manning already has a road win this season at Tennessee, where Uncle Peyton played, and a home win over Mississippi, where Uncle Eli was a star. Of the three, a night game at No. 24 LSU (6-3, 3-3, No. 21 CFP) with both teams desperate to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive, could be the wildest of them all.
“It’s special for me,” Manning said, recalling games watching Joe Burrow lead the Tigers and an epic LSU-Alabama showdown. “Great atmosphere … SEC road game at night. That’s what it’s all about.”
But he shrugged off any suggestion of a Manning “legacy” game under the lights in his home state.
“I don’t really have any legacy. I have no family that went to LSU,” Manning said. “I’m from New Orleans, which is about an hour from Baton Rouge. There’s not a connection. It’s not about me at all.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian senses no pressure building for Manning ahead of the game.
“I don’t think he gives a crap,” Sarkisian said. “The legacy stuff is a byproduct of doing what he gets to do. I just don’t think that he gives that much time, energy, effort (and) thought to it.”
But others will.
The Manning roots in Louisiana run deep in the bayou
Manning was born and raised in New Orleans, where Grandpa Archie is one of only nine players in the Saints ring of honor. Arch was a high school All-American at Isidore Newman School, where he smashed passing records set by Super Bowl-winning uncles Peyton and Eli.
And growing up, the Manning family would make the short road trips for the big LSU games in Baton Rouge, where the crowd can be so loud, it shakes the stadium walls. Arch’s father, Cooper Manning, has fond memories of the place.
“While we were Ole Miss people, we were, you know, surrounded by it and obviously it’s an amazing experience to go to Death Valley on a Saturday night as a young kid. And now, getting to do it and actually be on the field, I think Arch considers himself lucky,” Cooper Manning said.
“I just have great respect for that program and that environment and just the passion and true, true love of football and how important it is in our state,” Cooper Manning added. “Peyton never got to play LSU in his four years in Tennessee. Eli played them. I have great memories of being in the stands on a Halloween night, when Eli threw a touchdown in the end zone there to beat (Nick) Saban.”
Arch playing there will stand out among the special games for the Manning family and friends. Former LSU quarterback Burt Jones will have his No. 7 jersey retired. Jones is a close friend of Archie Manning.
“Burt specifically picked the Texas game for them to honor him,” Cooper Manning said. “I thought that was kind of nice.”
Arch forged his own path to Texas
As fun as those LSU games were, like his uncles before him, Arch Manning opted to go out of state for college football. LSU recruited him but a coaching change from Ed Orgeron to Brian Kelly proved disruptive. Arch visited Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Mississippi, where current LSU coach Lane Kiffin was in pursuit.
“I really enjoyed the time around Arch,” Kiffin said, noting he still trades texts with Cooper Manning.
Kiffin is sympathetic to the pressure put on a quarterback named Manning from Louisiana.
“Great kid. That’s a lot to deal with, even when he was in high school, the expectations and pressure and everything around him,” Kiffin said. “Awesome family, awesome people.”
The pull of LSU is strong for any kid from Louisiana; Tigers senior offensive tackle Bo Bordelon was Manning’s high school teammate. At Mississippi, he would have been a third-generation QB, succeeding his uncle Eli and grandfather. But Cooper Manning, who also attended Ole Miss, said the family thought it was important for Arch to choose his own path.
That meant heading west into the burnt orange of Texas.
“We really, really wanted him to make a decision that was his own and that he felt good about that he made,” Cooper Manning said.
Arch Manning still embraces his Big Easy roots. Last summer, he was a counselor at the family’s Manning Passing Academy. He also took a group of Texas receivers to New Orleans for a few days of informal workouts, goofing around, and his home state’s renowned Creole and Cajun cuisine. Cooper Manning posted a photo on social media of him driving the receivers around town with a note that “Arch is in the trunk.”
Arch Manning’s career with the Longhorns has been bumpy. It has bounced from top Heisman Trophy contender to withering criticism. He is 19-5 as a starter with eight wins over ranked opponents. Texas also missed the playoff last year after starting the season No. 1.
Texas briefly rose to No. 1 again this year before consecutive losses to unranked Oklahoma and Florida raised questions whether he would be benched.
A three-game win streak has quieted that storm. And a win over LSU would put Texas is a very good position to make the playoff this year.
Winning a national championship at Texas would earn Manning a legacy of its own.
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Martel reported from New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
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