Last Saturday night, the Texas Longhorns scored 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points to upset the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Longhorns secured the most impressive win of the young college football season and swiped the No. 1 designation from the Buckeyes.
Nobody has talked about that this week because some loser used AI to generate a video of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian hitting ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe.
Sarkisian took center stage when he ditched his halftime interview with Laura Rutledge due to ESPN on ABC’s technical difficulties. After the game, Sarkisian blew off Rowe in a rather brash manner, which a Texas spokesperson later attributed to ESPN technical difficulties.
Laura Rutledge: “I do want to make sure we clear something up. [Steve Sarkisian] did decline the interview at the half. He had waited a long time, been very patient with some technical issues that we had. He apologized to us. We should be apologizing to him, which we did.” https://t.co/y9o6lXgNhx pic.twitter.com/yE08r5BNpD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 13, 2026
The Steve Sarkisian postgame interview with Holly Rowe was quite brief. https://t.co/TWV6JrA9Ro pic.twitter.com/xo0z8oidMN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 13, 2026
Sarkisian’s real-life actions were highly criticized across sports media, and then Texas quarterback Arch Manning made it all so much worse.
“I saw AI edits of Sark’s interview,” Manning said at his press conference on Monday. After someone in the room appeared to reference a specific AI edit, a laughing Manning said, “Have y’all seen that one? That’s a good one. Of him slapping Holly Rowe?”
Manning and the gaggle of reporters who laughed immediately came under fire.
On Tuesday, Manning apologized for his “insensitive comment” and offered a direct apology to Rowe. Rowe graciously accepted Manning’s apology, noting, “We move forward with respect and kindness for one another.”
ESPN’s Chris Fowler isn’t ready to move on just yet. On Wednesday, Fowler stood by Rowe in an Instagram video, as transcribed below:
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“There is no one out there more dedicated or committed, no one who works harder in the TV sports business, than Holly Rowe. She is a pro’s pro. She is deeply committed to all of the sports she covers — and there’s a lot of them — and to those who participate in those sports. She has done so much for so many. You have no idea. And I am so proud to call her a colleague on ABC Saturday Night Football.
“As a person, she’s kind, considerate, tough as hell, and resilient. If you don’t know enough about Holly’s career, this might be an opportunity to learn more because the ugliness of this week should never be what people think of when Holly Rowe’s name comes up.
“But this is where we are in 2026. That some person, some human being out there, uses AI to create a video depicting violence against someone so respected and so beloved. And some percentage of people at a press conference, who are colleagues of Holly, who should look up to her, laugh about it.
“Arch Manning has apologized for his unfortunate reaction. He spoke to Holly. She offered grace. What was said between them stays between them. Apologies are useful. They’re important. But as Matthew McConaughey — Texas legend! — told me a long time ago, there’s a proverb that says, ‘Don’t just be sorry; be better.’ There is so much ugliness out there. When confronted with it, all of us — all of us — can do better.”
Fowler had time for trolls in the comments, too.
When someone lamented that “everyone [is] so offended about everything,” Fowler replied, “Yeah your post is way off base. And ignorant. Perhaps you have a rare talent for massively missing the point. Two real people that I have known for decades being depicted in a case of physical abuse when isn’t humor to me. I guess you’re just another one who finds depictions of violence on women hilarious.”
Fowler also shed light on what actually happened with a separate comment. “Whole chain of events, including Holly getting run over by an OL on OSU side that led to the interview issues,” he wrote. “But that’s not at all [the] point. It’s a woman being slapped to the ground being treated as comedy. It’s the creator of it and reporters who laughed who owe Sark and Holly an apology.”
On Thursday, Sarkisian broke his silence by opening his press conference with a lengthy statement.
“If hindsight’s 20/20, if I could do it all over again, I would have exuded more patience in that moment and sat through and waited for the interview with Holly,” Sarkisian said, in part. “Obviously, we have a ton of respect for ESPN and Holly. Holly and I go way back to even to my days of playing at BYU, and we’ve got a great relationship. ESPN is a great partner of ours.”
Sarkisian also addressed Manning’s comments and the aftermath.
“Arch recognizes he made a mistake, and it’s an unfortunate one,” Sarkisian said. “Nowhere do we condone domestic violence or violence against women. Nothing in our program says that, nor Arch individually.
“I think if he could take it back, he would. But he has since apologized to Holly. He’s made a public apology, and our goal is that we can move forward and him be the guy that that we all know that he is and what he represents.”
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.