Bench Quinn Ewers? Longhorns Coach Sarkisian 'Never Considered It'
There is perhaps no relationship more important to a college football program than between a head coach and his starting quarterback.
And for the Texas Longhorns, a special one seems to be brewing between freshman Quinn Ewers, and head coach Steve Sarkisian.
However, after a brilliant start to his Longhorns career, the freshman in Ewers has begun to show over the last two weeks - particularly on Saturday, during the Longhorns' 41-34 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater.
To be blunt, it was arguably one of the worst football games Ewers has played since... well... ever?
After all, as one of the highest-rated quarterback recruits in the history of the sport, it's hard to imagine Ewers performing worse statistically at any other point in his career, even dating all the way back to his time at Southlake Carroll.
How bad is that you ask?
Ewers went on to finish the game 19 of 49 (38.7 percent) for 319 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
However, that is neither here nor there, and there were far more issues plaguing the Longhorns than just their freshman quarterback.
"We weren't great up front today either," Sarkisian said. "I thought we got a little leaky. I just felt like at times he was a little jittery in the pocket, but we didn't help him. We tried to help him with some easier type throws, unfortunately, it wasn't effective enough. So that's on me. We've got to have a better plan in place to execute at a higher level."
Still, the question remains - given his struggles, should the Longhorns have pulled Ewers at any point in favor of backup Hudson Card?
According to Sarkisian, the answer is a simple one.
"No," Sarkisian said. "I never considered pulling him."
Perhaps no head coach in college football knows quarterbacks better than Steve Sarkisian.
Just look at his history of coaching the position, and putting guys in the NFL.
However, he very well may have made the wrong call here.
We saw it in Clemson on Saturday morning. With starter DJ Uiagalelei struggling, the No. 5 Tigers and head coach Dabo Swinney made a switch in the second half, going with true freshman Cade Klubnik, in an attempt to light a spark with the offense.
And it worked, with the Tigers scoring 17 unanswered points on their way to a win.
So why couldn't the Longhorns make the same call here? Especially with someone with the experience of Card sitting on the bench?
Perhaps Sarkisian wanted the freshman to have the experience of digging himself out of a hole.
Or maybe, even just four games into his young Longhorns career, Sarkisian already has unwavering belief and trust in Ewers.
As of now, the answer remains unclear. But it appears to be more towards the latter. And while it did perhaps cost them the game on Saturday (among many other things), that is not a bad thing.
"He's going to have a great career. He's got a great career ahead of him," Sarkisian said. "There are going to be a hell of a lot better days than today that he'll have. He's in the young stages of his career. So we'll get back to work, we'll work on the fundamentals, the techniques, the schemes, to operate those things, and make sure he's going into the next ball game with a great deal of confidence that he can execute this offense and do it at a high level."
Either way, Ewers is going to have plenty of time to fix the issues from Saturday, with the Longhorns entering a much-needed bye week ahead of their November 5 trip to Manhattan to take on the Kansas State Wildcats, where another vicious road environment will await Ewers.
Luckily for the Horns, they have won five straight over Kansas State, including the last two matchups in the Little Apple.
And it seems that Sark believes that Ewers can make it six.
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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