Analyzing Texas Longhorns QB Quinn Ewers's Performance vs Oklahoma Sooners

Texas Longhorns QB Quinn Ewers made a handful of mistakes but was otherwise dealing vs. the Oklahoma Sooners last weekend.

The Texas Longhorns took their first loss of the season in a nail-biter against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday. Despite a few mistakes Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers had a day, completing 19 straight passes at one point but also turning the ball over three times. 

Let’s take a deep dive into his performance.

On the game's first drive after a screen pass for a loss of two yards, Quinn’s first big mistake came when he tried to force a ball to AD Mitchell, which OU defender Gentry Williams picked off. This gave all the momentum to OU early in the game, allowing them to score the next drive.

The next drive wasn’t much better when his only completion was a toss to Jonathan Brooks for eight yards on a third and 13. Texas ended up faking the punt and converting on fourth down, so Texas would get another chance.

Just a few plays later when Texas was in the red zone, Ewers attempted to thread the needle over the middle to JT Sanders, but the ball was hit up in the air when Sanders collided with an OU defender and was picked off again. Though this interception wasn’t necessarily Quinn's fault, it still was detrimental to Texas, who struggled throughout the game in the red zone.

On the next drive, Ewers completed a short pass on the outside to Jordan Whittington for two yards but was sacked the next play and Texas was forced to punt.

Quinn started the next drive strong, finding Whittington for a 13-yard pickup for a first down. He then continued his momentum when he found AD Mitchel on the next play, this time for 14 yards. After a few Jonathan Brooks runs, his next completion came to Xavier Worthy for 18 yards. He capped the drive off with a 23-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Gunnar Helm on fourth down, putting Texas ahead in the game for the first time.

After an OU touchdown drive, Ewers responded on the first play of the next drive finding Xavier Worthy for a smooth 39-yard pickup over the middle on a nice cross-body throw. This was definitely one of Quinn’s best throws so far this season. The drive would end in a game-tying field goal.

To start the second half, Quinn would continue his momentum with three straight completions to Helm, Sanders, and Whittington. The momentum though would be stopped when he fumbled on the next play when trying to extend a play. This was his third turnover of the day, his most in one game this season.

Quinn Ewers vs. Oklahoma / © Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY

Despite the fumble, he was still throwing the ball at an extremely high rate and continued to do so, hitting Worthy for a 26-yard gain on the next drive. He then hit Gunnar Helm for an eight-yard completion of the next play, and another eight-yarder to Mitchel after that. Texas would end the drive with a field goal again, continuing their red zone struggles.

To open the fourth quarter, Quinn stayed hot, hitting Whittington for a 26-yard gain down to the one-yard line. Texas would then proceed to get stopped four times in a row on the goal line, which included a screen pass for no gain to Xavier Worthy on four down. The lack of scoring in the red zone killed Texas and was one of the biggest reasons they lost the game.

After a five-yard completion to Whittington on the next drive, his 19 straight completions would finally come to an end, but it set the school record for most passes completed without an incompletion. Despite the 2 interceptions, Quinn was extremely efficient and completed 84 percent of his throws.

He would still keep the hot hand, with three straight completions to Whittington, totaling 33 yards. Jonathan Brooks would end the drive on a clutch 29-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 27.

After an OU punt, Ewers led the horns down the field for a go-ahead field goal. On this drive, he went 5 of 6 for 41 yards, putting them in position to take the lead. This was a sign of maturity from Ewers, especially since he also showed his clutch gene versus Alabama earlier this season.

Despite the outcome of the game, Ewers played incredibly well if you just take away a few plays. The second interception really wasn’t his fault, and he completed a school record 19 passes in a row.

His final stat line was 31 of 37 for 346 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

If he can avoid the mistakes he made on Saturday, Texas will most likely have a great rest of the season. If he doesn’t though, their path to the Big 12 Championship might be shaky.