Quinn Ewers' mistakes, both new and recurring, hamper Texas in loss to Georgia

Texas doesn’t have a quarterback controversy, as Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian emphasized on Saturday night that Quinn Ewers is his program’s starter despite a brief appearance by Arch Manning. But the Longhorns had enough quarterback issues against the Georgia Bulldogs to cost them a victory against the No. 5 team in the nation.

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Sarkisian elected to bench Ewers late in the second quarter after a dismal 6-of-12 start for just 17 yards plus an interception and a fumble. Ewers wasn’t solely responsible for the poor offensive effort in the first half, but there were enough mistakes for Sarkisian to trot out Manning for the end of the half.

Steve Sarkisian: "My feeling in the game was I felt Quinn was a little uneasy. I felt like giving him a chance to kind of step back and regroup. I didn't know if we'd get a series or two with Arch depending on how much time was remaining in the half on the clock. So we told Quinn…

— Inside Texas (@InsideTexas) October 20, 2024

“I just didn’t think he was at his best,” Sarkisian said. “A lot of things I’ve seen him do, I wasn’t quite seeing. I don’t think his eyes were where he needed to be. That’s why I felt like he needed to reset and regroup at halftime.”

Sark sought out the proverbial spark from Manning, who picked up three first downs across two drives but turned the ball over at the end of his brief opportunity. Then in the locker room at the half, Sarkisian told Ewers it would be his turn with the first-string offense again.

A mild amount of improvement was made in the second half with Ewers finishing 25-for-43 for 211 yards and two touchdowns, but Ewers still missed throws, hampered the Longhorn offense, and was ineffective under pressure.

And there was a lot of pressure.

The Georgia defense tallied seven sacks on Saturday night. Jalon Walker was a menace to the Longhorns, one of many wearing red and black. He notched three sacks and four quarterback hurries.

Mykel Williams was similarly effective, notching two sacks and forcing a fumble recovered by Georgia in the 4th quarter. With the shape of the game requiring Texas to score rapidly and pass the ball down the field, the Bulldog pass-rush could fix its eyes on the Longhorns quarterback without having to worry all that much about the run, and that it did.

“They’ve got a good D-line for sure,” Ewers said. “It’s tough whenever you get down like that and they know we’re going to try to throw the ball. They get in straight pass-rush mode on the edges.”

Added Sarkisian, “I don’t think we put our offensive line in an ideal situation tonight with the way the game was going.”

All that was a formula for Ewers to put on a performance that reminded of the last time Texas played host to College GameDay against a top-five opponent at night. In 2022, Ewers was 17-for-39 for 171 yards and an interception against No. 4 TCU, a game the Longhorns also lost despite a stout defensive effort.

There were some key differences. Ewers was totally ineffective in that entire contest with the eventual national finalists. On Saturday, he found an amount of success in the second half that helped briefly turn what appeared to be a game on the way to a blowout into a one-score contest.

“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 he got taken out for a couple of 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.

“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 recalibrated and reset to go play the second half.”

Ewers left the Longhorns’ win earlier in the year over UTSA and made his return last Saturday against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. He has missed multiple games for the third consecutive season due to injury. An abdominal strain was the cause of the absences this season.

There was no effort by Ewers to blame his performance on his injury, though he admitted it is still having an effect on how he plays.

“It’s there a little bit, but I feel that’s just how injuries go,” Ewers said. “You’re going to feel it whether that’s my mind thinking about it too much and I feel it, or it’s just there a little bit. It’s not a big issue or anything like that.”

More blame for the poor performance can be put elsewhere. Ewers was making mistakes on Saturday as a fourth-year college football player that he was making with regularity during his first season at Texas. His challenge was as great as it’s been with a Kirby Smart coached defense on the opposite side, and it was great for everyone else on his side of the ball, too.

As the group typically tasked with protecting Ewers, the Longhorn offensive line may have new responsibilities this week in the way of keeping the Texas starter’s confidence up in addition to keeping him upright.

“Just stay in his ear and let him know that we have his back, because that’s the truth,” Texas center Jake Majors said. “And reinforce that this game isn’t just on him. It’s on all of us.”

After the contest, Ewers said he believes that his reason for being on Earth is to play quarterback. Playing quarterback is difficult and a unique task. Ewers’ play at that position is reliant on others succeeding. Others succeeding is also reliant on Ewers’ play.

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Success wasn’t a regular occurrence for the Longhorn offense on Saturday night, with Ewers as the reason behind it in most cases. Mistakes new and old led to a temporary benching, but the limited positive effects from that Sarkisian decision were not enough to boost Ewers and the rest of the offense to a better overall result.