Few people have been more loyal to their alma mater than Peyton Manning has been to the University of Tennessee. The record setting quarterback has donated large sums of money, visited during his bye week throughout his NFL career and has made trips to Knoxville even more frequently since his playing days ended a decade ago.
However, Manning will be in a unique situation on Sept. 26 when his nephew Arch and the Texas Longhorns travel to Neyland Stadium for a premier SEC matchup. Who will Peyton be cheering for when his nephew faces off against his beloved alma mater?
“One of the kids was asking me earlier who I was going to go,” Manning told Chris Gordy at the Manning Passing Academy. “I said, ‘who do you think?’ and he said that he would go for his school over his relative. I went ‘you and I are different. You and I are wired differently.’ Nothing is more important than your family. Obviously, it’s going to be a huge SEC game. My dad 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 is more important to me than my family and when you have a nephew playing, I pull very hard for him every single Saturday.”
It’s unsurprising to hear that Manning will cheer for his nephew against Tennessee. What’s unclear is whether Manning will attend the game. It would be an extremely strange image to see Manning inside Neyland Stadium not wearing Tennessee orange or rooting on the Volunteers.
Manning did make it to one Texas game last season, traveling to Athens to watch Georgia knock off Arch Manning and the Longhorns 35-10 at Sanford Stadium.
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As Manning mentioned, his father Archie dealt with the same thing when Tennessee faced off against Ole Miss twice during his college career. The Vols won each game, routing the Rebels 41-3 in Memphis in 1996 before earning a 31-17 victory in Knoxville a year later.
Peyton could end up dealing with the same problem in a few years. His son Marshall is a rising freshman at the Baylor School in Chattanooga and has gained some early buzz as a recruiting prospect.
The more immediate issue comes for Peyton Manning in week four of the college season. Led by Arch, Texas enters the season with national championship aspirations while Tennessee enters Josh Heupel’s sixth season as head coach with serious question marks on both sides of the ball.
Texas opened as 6.5-point road favorites against Tennessee according to the DraftKings Sportsbook earlier this offseason. Kickoff between Tennessee and Texas is at noon ET with ABC broadcasting the conference matchup.
It’ll certainly be an odd week for the Hall of Famer but his rooting interest that week is clear.
“That’s pretty much a no brainer that you’re pulling for your nephew to play well, but of course everybody knows pretty strongly where my loyalties lie on all other Saturdays— with the University of Tennessee.”
