Saturday’s mammoth matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 3 Ohio State is the biggest regular-season college football game in at least a decade.

That’s what my pal Colin Cowherd thinks of the game that will pit Arch Manning against the defending national champions. In the most recent episode of my podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show,” Cowherd and I dished on several college football topics ahead of the new season, such as Bill Belichick’s debut at North Carolina, Lincoln Riley’s status at USC and, of course, the Texas-Ohio State game.

As I’ll be on the call for Saturday’s game (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), here’s a snippet of my conversation with Cowherd. 

(Parts of this conversation were edited for clarity and brevity). 

Joel Klatt: What are the one or two things you’re most interested in for the college football season?

Colin Cowherd: “My primary complaint has been, for years, we don’t have enough great games. Too many people are gaming the system. They’re ducking big games. And this year it’s like, nope, Texas-Ohio State Werek 1. Last year, it was Oregon-Ohio State in Autzen. The system is not as punitive. The storylines will last longer. I think we really saw it last year. I thought Ohio State losing to Michigan, and I know Buckeyes fans will disagree, was great for the sport, because Ohio State, as a 20-point favorite, lost, still got into the playoff and won the natty. 

“The other thing, and I think everybody’s looking forward to this, is the Arch Manning story. I can’t wait to watch him play. I just think I get a Manning, but with mobility. I get the brains and the high school-college arc, which all the Mannings had. He’s a pretty special athlete. Very rarely, I guess [Tim] Tebow and Vince Young had this, where you’re like, ‘Oh wow, I can’t wait to watch that quarterback play.’ That’s the NFL.”

Klatt: Yeah, let’s sit on that. I’m so fascinated to see how Arch deals with the expectations. He’s never been a full-time starter. He’s the Heisman Trophy favorite. His team is ranked No. 1 in the preseason. His expectations are basically perfection. 

I’m incredibly interested to see how he just deals with it. From all the reports and every interaction that I’ve had with Arch or his coach, Steve Sarkisian, he’s incredibly even-keeled and can handle things like that. But we’re going to find out in a big way just this week.

Cowherd: “Of all the Mannings that I know – Eli, probably the best of all, Cooper – they’re all self-deprecating. And what does that mean? They all have a very strong sense of self. They’re not insecure. They’re self-deprecating. They can laugh at themselves. So that means, in his life, he’s probably had people poke him in the ribs. It could be his granddad, his dad. It’s a very funny family. All the Mannings share that quality of humility, and they can laugh at themselves. I think when you have that as a function of your personality, that you’re not too uptight, you’re not too rigid. I mean, all the Manning family dinners are a big event. Texas football practice feels like a big event. So, you say, ‘Oh, it’s the first game against Ohio State.’ Do you know how many big games Arch has gone to that weren’t his? 

“I worry about him being too confident and not sliding, because he’s really athletic. There were a couple of times last year where I was like, ‘Bro, [watch out]! Get down, stop running into linebackers.’ That’s the only thing I worry about. He’s going to be so amped up and so fired up. He’s just not going to slide, and he’s going to do an Andrew Luck and give somebody a shoulder. But I think arch Manning will just be ready for the moment.”

Klatt: The athleticism is something that I can’t wait to see. We saw glimpses of it last year. He plays a lot more like his granddad than his uncles. He reminds me a lot of Trevor Lawrence when Lawrence was at Clemson, where his A game is still going to be from the pocket because he can threaten every blade of grass on the field with his arm and that’s where he can showcase his real ability. But he also has this extra gear where he can hurt you as an athlete, and as every coach that will ever talk to you will admit, the most dangerous thing that a quarterback can do is hurt you with his legs. That’s certainly something that in college football is incredibly valuable.

To your point about sliding, how much will Sark expose him to that in the designed game or aspect of the game plan, and then how much of that will be on Arch just improvising? He’s going to face a defense that I don’t know if they have a real good idea what they’re going to see. Remember, Matt Patricia comes in as the defensive coordinator for Ohio State. Jim Knowles is now gone. He went to Penn State. So, there’s a chance he’s seeing things that they’ve never prepared for.

Cowherd: “I almost feel like I know what Ohio State’s going to do. Texas has four new offensive line starters and Arch Manning hasn’t played a lot. If I’m Matt Patricia, I’m bringing a lot of different looks. I’m bringing corner blitzes. I’m going to try to confuse the young kid. I’m not going to make him less mobile. He’s got a beautiful arm. The only advantage Ohio State has is he doesn’t have a ton of in-game starts. It’s on the road. He won’t hear things. So, I think you’re going to see a really aggressive Ohio State defense, at least early. They’re going to come after him, they’re going to bring all sorts of pressures. And another thing, Texas, I don’t know if it’s a weakness, but Texas is young up front. You don’t get preseason in college and the most important unit on a team, in terms of cohesion, is the offensive line.

“I think the way to beat Arch Manning and Texas [is now] because I don’t think you’re going to beat them late. They’re going to get better and better. They’re going to be vulnerable in the first two to three weeks. I think Ohio State sees that is they’re coming into our place. It’s loud, lot of looks and create confusion, because by Week 5 or 6, Arch Manning’s going to have it dialed in.”

Klatt: He’ll certainly be more prepared and he’s going to be much better mentally. But in the view of the Texas-Ohio State game, how big of a game do you feel it is for the narrative that we keep talking about in college football about the power of the Big Ten and SEC?

Cowherd: “I think it’s the biggest college football regular-season game in a decade. I mean, Oregon-Ohio State, we knew was going to be good, but there was not a Manning at quarterback. And Texas, I mean, Oregon’s a very lively brand, but it’s Texas, Manning and the Buckeyes off a natty. This is a prize fight. This is gigantic. So I think it’s a remarkable game.”

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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