Texas benches Quinn Ewers, puts Arch Manning in vs. Georgia

After a paltry offensive start against Georgia, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was quick to make the call: Starting quarterback Quinn Ewers headed to the bench, and backup Arch Manning took over the offense in the 2nd quarter.

The decision came as the Longhorns got into a first half hole, trailing 17-0 when Manning began to warm up. When he entered the game with around five minutes until halftime, Georgia had stretched the lead to 20-0.

At that point, Ewers was 6-for-12 passing for 17 yards and an interception. He also struggled to avoid the Georgia rush, and the Longhorns run game didn’t do much to aid the quarterback.

Manning’s first drive featured a first down gained via a facemask penalty, but the results for the sophomore weren’t much better than those of Ewers. The Georgia defensive front was still causing troubles and Manning went 1-for-4 for eight yards on the series, leading to a punt.

Manning ultimately played a pair of series prior to half before Ewers re-entered. He fumbled on the second drive, setting up a Georgia field goal right before half.

After the game, Sarkisian reaffirmed Ewers was the starter going forward.

“Quinn’s our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said in his postgame press conference. “I appreciate the fact we’re fortunate enough to have a backup like Arch that could come into the game and provide a spark in some sense. At the end of the day, Quinn’s our starter. I think, like I said, we’ve got to do a better job around him. I think he would tell you he can play better, but we’ve got to coach better. Everybody’s got to be better for our offense to perform better.”

Manning played in four games in 2024 entering Saturday night, completing 70.5% of his passes for 901 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions, most of that production coming as the starter in lieu of an injured Ewers.

Ewers played in as many games entering Saturday, but had a bigger passing sample and completed a higher percentage of his passes, 72.2%. He entered with 890 yards and nine touchdowns and three interceptions.