Texas vs Tennessee matchup deeper than alma mater for Peyton Manning
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The world of college football is simultaneously very big and very small. Just ask the Manning family.
As Texas quarterback Arch Manning prepares for his fourth season with the Longhorns and his second as the full-time starter, a large orange matchup looms on the horizon: Tennessee, the alma mater of one of his uncles, Peyton. Later in the season, he will take on Ole Miss, where Eli also helmed at QB.
It’ll be a new-look Vols team Manning takes on, but the expectations will be high as ever. Texas, meanwhile, is looking to navigate its way back to the College Football Playoffs.
At the annual Manning Passing Academy, Peyton was asked who he would be cheering for in the Week 4 matchup and the SEC opener for both sides. Though he presented a largely neutral front, refusing to say he would be rooting against his alma mater, he did make it quite clear he would be supporting his nephew.
“I was asking one of the kids, one of the kids was asking me earlier who I was gonna go for,” Manning said when he was asked about the pending matchup. “And I said what do you think? And of course he said that he would go for his school over his relative. And I went ‘well you and I are different. You and I are wired differently.
“Nothing’s more important than your family,” he continued. “But obviously it’s gonna be a huge SEC game. My dad (Arch) dealt with it when I was in college when Tennessee played Ole Miss. I love my university, my alma mater. Pull for them unconditionally. But nothing’s more important than my family. And when you have a nephew playing. I pull very hard for him every single Saturday. So that’s pretty much a no-brainer, pulling for your nephew to play well. But like I said everybody knows pretty strongly where my loyalties lie on all other Saturdays. The University of Tennessee.”
Now, Arch playing well, of course, does not preclude Tennessee from winning. But Manning did say all “other” Saturdays. With that in mind, it seems pretty clear he’ll be rooting for Texas. But don’t expect him to show up in burnt orange at Neyland Stadium.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas vs Tennessee matchup deeper than alma mater for Peyton Manning
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