Steve Sarkisian on taking Quinn Ewers out vs. Georgia: 'I'm sure he wasn't the happiest guy'

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian opened his postgame press conference Saturday night by describing his team’s 30-15 loss to Georgia as a tale of two halves.

That description was certainly apt for the performance quarterback Quinn Ewers turned in.

In the first half, the third-year starter was just 6-of-12 for a measly 17 yards. The Longhorns’ offense totaled 29 yards over the course of the first six drives Ewers quarterbacked: Four of those drives ended in punts, one ended in a fumble and another ended in an interception.

With Georgia leading 20-0 late in the second quarter, Sarkisian inserted backup Arch Manning into the game. Manning didn’t fare much better in his two series before halftime, even losing a fumble of his own that set the stage for three additional Bulldogs points.

Ewers came back into the game to start the third quarter and completed 19-of-31 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

“I thought we saw the competitor in Quinn really come out in the second half,” Sarkisian said postgame. “I’m sure he wasn’t the happiest guy with me that that he got taken out for a couple series. I’m sure he wanted to stay in there and try to work his way through it.

“I had to make a decision for what I felt was best for the team in that moment but also best for him in that moment. And sometimes the players don’t always see that, but I think when he takes a step back and looks at it, he’ll understand I was trying to do what was in the best interest of him, to get him kind of recalibrated and reset to go play the second half.”

Sarkisian added: “I think he will acknowledge the coaching. He’s definitely been coachable with us. And I think he’s got a lot of good football ahead of him this season.”

Both of Ewers’ touchdown passes took place in the third quarter, at which point Texas made it a 23-15 game.

Except, despite piling up 106 total yards of offense in the fourth quarter, the Longhorns couldn’t finish drives in the final frame. Playing catch up after Georgia scored an insurance touchdown early in the period, Texas was stopped on fourth down on all three of its fourth quarter drives, including twice in the red zone.

First-half offensive blunders put the Longhorns in a difficult second-half situation. Sarkisian was asked afterward about the uncharacteristic mistakes made by Ewers, who was sacked five times and fumbled again in the fourth quarter.

Ewers, after all, came into the top-five showdown with a great resume in big games, notably beating then-No. 3 Alabama on the road in 2023 and then-No. 10 Michigan on the road in 2024, not to mention his record-setting Big 12 title victory over then-No. 18 Oklahoma State last year and then his admirable, one-throw-away performance in last season’s Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal against national runner-up Washington.

“I just didn’t think he was at his best,” Sarkisian said of Ewers’ outing against Georgia. “A lot of the things that I’ve seen him do, I wasn’t quite seeing. I didn’t think his eyes were where they needed to be, and so that’s why I felt like he just needed to kind of reset and regroup at halftime. … I thought he competed his tail off in the second half.”

Sarkisian reiterated postgame that Ewers is still his starting quarterback.

“I appreciate the fact that we’re fortunate enough to have a backup like Arch that can come into the game and provide a spark in some sense. But, at the end of the day, Quinn’s our starter.”