Steve Sarkisian Offers Insights on QB Picture for Both Texas and Oklahoma

The Sooners are a massive underdog to the Longhorns this week, and both teams have experienced changes at the quarterback position.

Texas Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian / Aaron Meullion-Imagn Images

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is confident that starting quarterback Quinn Ewers will be back in the lineup this week against Oklahoma.

But he’s equally confident that if Ewers isn’t full recovered from his abdominal strain, backup quarterback Arch Manning will be just fine against the Sooners.

“A couple things,” Sarkisian said Monday during his weekly press conference. “One, Quinn worked last week for our three practices. He practiced again today. I thought he looked good coming off the bye. I think if anybody benefited from the time off, it was probably him. 

“We're going to monitor him daily, just to kind of see how he continues to progress. But I feel good about if, how he was today, I feel good about him going Saturday, but that remains to be seen.”

Ewers, who led the Longhorns (5-0) to their first Big 12 championship in 15 years last season and guided Texas to its first College Football Playoff appearance, went down with a muscle strain in his abdomen in the ‘Horns’ Week 3 win over UTSA. 

In his absence, Manning threw for 223 yards against the Roadrunners in a 56-7 win, then got his first start and passed for 258 yards in a 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe. Last week the Longhorns throttled Mississippi State 35-13 and Manning threw for 325 yards.

“I have no hesitation with Arch going into the (OU) game,” Sarkisian said. “I think he's proven that to us over 2 1/2 games of football that he's really played in and competed in that he can run our offense, and he can be successful.

As Texas has managed to blow out just about everyone on the schedule so far, both quarterbacks have made it look easy. Ewers is completing 73.4 percent of his passes for 691 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions, while Manning is completing 70.5 percent for 901 yards with nine TDs and two picks.

“We're fortunate to have — to be in the position that we're in, to have two quality players at the quarterback position that we have confidence in and that their teammates have confidence in,” Sarkisian said.

The No. 18-ranked Sooners (4-1, 1-1 SEC) face No. 1 Texas (5-0, 1-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. OU has won seven of the last 10 meetings, including last year’s 34-30 drama-filled shocker.

This year, in the intensity of the Red River Rivalry, Ewers has a decided advantage in big game experience. But Sarkisian thinks Manning would handle it well, too.

“Quinn has earned and deserved that right to be our starting quarterback,” Sarkisian said. “Arch has continued to work really hard, and like I said, we're fortunate to have him and the player that he is and the leader that he is as well.” 

Texas is an 14.5-point favorite this week against an OU team that also had a quarterback change as true freshman Michael Hawkins replaced sophomore Jackson Arnold after 3 1/2 games.

Hawkins has caught the attention of the Texas coaching staff after he rallied OU to two fourth-quarter touchdowns against Tennessee and then rallied the Sooners again from an 11-point deficit to a 27-21 win at Auburn.

“I think what Michael Hawkins does is he does provide that element of, yeah, they can throw it, they can run it with designed runs, but his first touchdown there against Auburn was a pass that he tucked it and took off and ran,” Sarkisian said. “And so that's where we've got to be really cognizant of him in the pocket, that, yeah, we want to try to get to the quarterback, but our rush lanes are really critical in this game, because when he pulls it, it's not to get four or five or six yards. I mean, he went 50 for a touchdown against Auburn. So we got to be really mindful of his ability to extend plays and then create explosives with with his legs.”