2 weeks Ago
College football fans across the country may want there to be a quarterback controversy in Austin, but Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian won't give them that satisfaction. A week after Texas was throttled by the Georgia Bulldogs and quarterback Quinn Ewers was benched for a couple of drives in the first half in favor of Arch Manning, many fans tuned into the Longhorns' Week 9 game to see if Manning would again replace Ewers. While the third-year starter began the game with an interception against the No.
25 Commodores, he settled in right after and went on to complete his next 17 passes. Ewers helped lead the No. 5 Longhorns to a 27-24 win, but fans walked away from the game with mixed feelings about what they saw from him.
He finished the game having completed 21-of-37 (56%) passes for 288 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Both of the picks set Vanderbilt up to have short fields, and they scored touchdowns after each of them. However, while some may have been hoping for Sarkisian to leave the door open for Manning to take over moving forward, he did the opposite.
Sarkisian praised Ewers' play, and expressed confidence in him moving forward. "If he plays like that the rest of the year," Sarkisian said . "We are going to be okay.
" Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK In Ewers' defense, both of the interceptions were off of tipped passes, which Sarkisian assured he doesn't blame him for. While it wasn't the bounce-back game that some fans were hoping to see from Ewers and the offense, they did enough to escape Nashville with a win over a gritty Vanderbilt team. They'll have a chance to continue to find their rhythm next week at home as Texas is set to host the Florida Gators.
As for Ewers, it has to feel good that his head coach has his back. Now, he just needs to continue to prove that Sarkisian is right for doing so. Related: No.
5 Texas scrapes by No. 25 Vanderbilt with a three-point win.
