Urban Meyer defends Steve Sarkisian over benching Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning

In Texas‘ 30-15 loss to Georgia on Saturday, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian benched quarterback Quinn Ewers for Arch Manning in the second quarter. During an appearance on The Herd, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer weighed in on Sarkisian’s controversial decision.

“First of all, he’s a coach. He did the right thing, that’s his call,” Meyer said. “He’s a really good quarterback coach. Second of all, I imagine he’s handled that well before this situation happened.

“He’s talked to the team, the team would probably have been more shocked if he didn’t make that change because when someone’s not playing well, give the other guy a shot.”

Sarkisian subbed Manning into the game after Ewers had led the Longhorns on six fruitless drives. Alas, Manning was unable to find any more success than Ewers.

Manning led Texas’ offense for two drives, one ending in a punt and the other with a fumble. Ewers started the second half and played the rest of the game.

Quinn Ewers looked much improved after the break, recording 194 passing yards in the second half compared to his mere 17 passing yards in the first. Following the game, Sarkisian revealed the thought process behind sidelining Ewers.

“I thought we saw the competitor in Quinn really come out in the second half,” Sarkisian said. “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.”

Evidently, Urban Meyer believes Sarkisian made the correct decision. The former Florida head coach’s opinion isn’t to be taken lightly when it comes to a dual-quarterback system.

In 2006, Meyer started veteran QB Chris Leak while subbing in five-star freshman Tim Tebow for situational plays. Meyer’s strategy worked to perfection, with Florida eventually defeating Ohio State in the national championship.

Texas can only hope its two talented QBs provide the team with similar success. On Saturday, the Longhorns will look to bounce back from their loss as they square off against Vanderbilt at 4:15 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.