Casey Thompson vs. Hudson Card: Do Coach Sark's Longhorns Have 2 QBs? Or None?

Thompson and Card - or Card and Thompson - have engaged in this battle all spring, summer and fall. What's new?

“If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.”

It's been said so often, and for so long, that its origins are impossible to trace.

But its applications are easy to find. And so, in the apparent opinion of University of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, are its flaws.

Said Sark after Saturday's 58-0 drubbing of Rice in which both two QBs played: "I’d imagine that (Casey Thompson) will kind of lead the charge next week against Texas Tech, and I don’t see any difference where Hudson (Card) is probably going to get his opportunity to get in the game as well.”

Thompson and Card - or Card and Thompson - have engaged in this battle all spring, summer, and fall. Card started the first two Longhorns games this year before giving way to Thompson, who seems to have a sort of knack for getting it done come game time.

"He's a gamer,'' which is another old-fashioned phrase that would seem to apply.

On Saturday night, the redshirt junior quarterback Thompson completed 15 of 18 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns. His ability as a scrambler paid off as well, and it is fair to say that Longhorns players find themselves rallying around him.

"There's something about him when he gets into the game that the ball goes down the field," Sarkisian said of Thompson.

Given that "getting the ball down the field'' is Job 1 of any QB, that is a fairly ringing endorsement of Thompson.

So why didn't he win the job in the first place?

Card is younger. Less experienced. But has the better pure arm talent. He also did a good job of minimizing the mistakes during camp. His time was almost now ... but isn't.

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Except ...

Sark, again, noted that next week against the Red Raiders, Card might again have a role, and maybe something more than the mop-up duty he was allowed here.

Card came into this game with UT up 51-0. That's a cozy turnaround from where he was a week ago when the Texas offense never quite got untracked in a disappointing 40-21 loss at Arkansas.

"Coach Sark obviously has to make that decision (about who's who at QB)," Thompson said. "I can only control what I can control. But obviously, I'm a competitor, and I want to be the guy going forward."

Thompson is that guy, and maybe just in time, as Big 12 play is about to unveil itself. But Card is, well, another guy. And he's somehow in the game plan as well.

So ignore the old saying. Embrace a new one: Coach Sark has a winning new starter and a promising young backup and he has two quarterbacks, whether tradition likes it or not.

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