A Tale of Two QBs: Analyzing Longhorns QB Quinn Ewers vs. Wyoming
When the Texas Longhorns strolled into Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide last Saturday, they were led by a quarterback who was reliable and efficient.
Quinn Ewers was able to dial up big-time throws down the field and led Texas to a huge program-changing win.
Versus Wyoming on the other hand, it was a different story.
On the first drive, Ewers went 0-3, and the Horns went three and out. After two dropped passes by Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell, Ewers’s third-down pass was an inaccurate ball over the head of Jordan Whittington.
In fact, his first completion didn't come until the second drive, when he hit a screen pass to Keilan Robinson for 16 yards. The next pass though, was an end zone shot thrown over the head of JT Sanders. Then right after that, Quinn chucked another ball up for Sanders, which was nearly intercepted by a Wyoming safety.
Then, on the following drive, Ewers finally got back on track.
After a 1-of-6 start, Ewers went 6-of-6, including a one-yard touchdown pass to defensive lineman Byron Murphy on the goal line. Although all of these were routine passes that Quinn is expected to complete, it also allowed him to settle into the game and get into a nice rhythm.
As a result, the run game was able to open up, which was seen with Jonathan Brooks finishing with 164 yards on the ground.
Continuing with the tale of two Ewers though, his next three passes were incomplete. The first two were both on the receivers, as both were dropped screen passes.
Drops have become a big issue for the horns, plaguing the passing attack in all three games so far.
The next pass was a seam route to Sanders that was covered well by the defender and batted away.
© Scott Wachter, USA TODAY
In the second half, Ewers had nice throws to Jordan Whittington and AD Mitchell before another incompletion. However, he then took a sack on third down that put Texas out of field goal range.
Following the sack, Ewers then rebounded, however, tossing his second touchdown on a screen to Xavier Worthy, who took it 44 yards to the house, making multiple Wyoming defenders miss along the way.
In all, Quinn finished with a final stat line of 11-21 for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns, averaging six yards per throw.
Most of his completions were short routine passes, while he went 0-3 on shot plays.
Ewers will look to find more consistency this week when the Longhorns open conference play versus Baylor.
If Texas is going to reach its goal of the Big 12 championship, it is important for Ewers to find consistency early, like he did against Alabama, instead of the version we got for the Wyoming game.