Last week in the Texas football team's first loss of the season vs. Georgia, Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian benched starting quarterback Quinn Ewers briefly. While much was made about what they may or may not mean, Sarkisian said Ewers responded well to the adversity he faced a week ago.
Ewers got the Longhorns back in the win column Saturday with a 27-24 road victory over Vanderbilt, which atypically entered ranked in the top 25 and winners of its last three, including a shocking upset of Alabama three weeks ago. The Texas quarterback did not play his best, particularly early, but Sarkisian praised his starting quarterback after the win.
“If he plays like that for the rest of the year, we're going to be OK. We're going to be just fine,” Sarkisian said of Ewers, who threw for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns, as well as 2 interceptions, both of which came after being tipped.
“You can't get worse than how it went for [Ewers] last week, especially in that first half, and then his ability to bounce back and show the resolve that he showed,” he said later. “I always say that the sign of the true character of a man is in the face of adversity, and that was a lot of adversity for him, a lot of adversity for us as a team coming off last week's game.”
Last Saturday, Ewers and the Texas offense were stifled by the stiff Georgia defense, which limited the quarterback to just 17 yards through the air and forced two turnovers in the first half. Trying to get something going on the offensive side of the ball, Sarkisian made the bold move to make a change at QB and inserted backup Arch Manning, who started two games Ewers missed due to injury.
Although the move was short-lived — Manning similarly struggled before being replaced by Ewers — it created some debate and speculation about whether Ewers would stay with the Texas football program, especially after an Instagram post by 247Sports, which afterward said it had been hacked, that Ewers would sit out the remainder of the season to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Ewers said the incident was “weird,” as it appears he will, indeed, continue as the Longhorns' starter as the team dives deeper into its inaugural SEC schedule.
After the win against Vanderbilt, Texas will have the week off before turning its attention to Florida on Nov. 9. After that, the Longhorns play at Arkansas, return home to host Kentucky, and finish the regular season at rival Texas A&M.