During Saturday afternoon’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian chose to put starting quarterback Quinn Ewers on the bench and bring in young star Arch Manning to take his place. But then he changed his mind.
The decision came late in the second quarter with Texas down 20-0 and Quinn Ewers struggling. Arch Manning came in and played two drives before halftime, but he didn’t exactly have a dominant performance.
In his two drives, Manning completed 3-of-6 passing attempts for just 19 yards. He did have a 21 yard rush for a first down, but he was also tackled behind the line of scrimmage enough times to bring his rushing total to -1 yards in the game.
Needless to say, the decision to bench Ewers for Manning was shortlived as Ewers returned to the field in the second half and led the team to 15 points to make the game competitive once again.
After the game, Sarkisian announced that Ewers would remain the team’s starting quarterback over Manning going forward.
“Quinn’s our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said. “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.”
Sarkisian gave Manning an opportunity to lead the team in a crucial game against one of the top teams in the country. But after Manning’s relatively poor performance, he changed his mind and put him right back on the bench.
“Quinn’s our starter, but I think we’ve got to do a better job around him,” Sarkisian said. “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 offensive football team to perform better.”
We’ll have to see how the rest of the season plays out for the Longhorns.
One thing is for sure, though – Sarkisian made it very clear that this is Ewers’ team and Manning will remain the backup.
[ESPN]
