Report: Texas to start Arch Manning at QB for Mississippi State game

Texas left its starting quarterback decision up in the air on Thursday, wanting to see how Quinn Ewers fared for another day before making the call to start either him or Arch Manning against Mississippi State.

On Saturday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Ewers is unlikely to play and Arch Manning will get the start against the Bulldogs. Ewers has been dealing with an abdominal injury.

Ewers was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report filed with the SEC on Wednesday evening. He was originally injured in the second quarter of a game against UTSA and has not played since.

With Ewers dealing with the injury, Manning is certainly capable of handling the load, too.

Manning, the former No. 1 overall recruit in the nation, threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns against the Warhawks last week, though he also threw two interceptions. He didn’t have much of an impact running the football for Texas, though he’s certainly capable.

In three games this season, Manning has gone 29-of-47 passing for 576 yards and seven touchdowns, against two interceptions. He has also run for 49 yards and two scores.

Sarkisian had previously indicated that Ewers would need to check off every box in order to play for Texas this weekend.

“He’s got to do enough to show me he can play,” Sarkisian said on Monday. “I know that’s probably not the answer you wanted, but that’s what I mean. We’ve got a game plan. Can he execute the game plan? I hate to pare it down to that but that’s really the truth. I want to make sure he’s healthy enough to play at a high level. Can he go operate the game plan we have in place for him?

“That’s why I need to see how he responds from today’s work, and then what it looks like on a Tuesday then a Wednesday, which are pretty heavy days for him. Then, how he rebounds on a Thursday, so on and so forth.”

On the season for Texas, Ewers has gone 58-of-79 passing for 691 yards and eight touchdowns, against eight interceptions. He hasn’t had much of a rushing presence yet, totaling just one yard.