Texas Longhorns Escape Kansas State Wildcats In Ugly Fashion, Need Quinn Ewers Back
On Saturday, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns hosted No. 23 Kansas State as they look to continue to make a push for the Big 12 title game and the College Football Playoff.
For the second week in a row, the Longhorns started redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy at quarterback in place of the injured Quinn Ewers.
As he did last week against BYU, Murphy came out guns blazing finding Adonai Mitchell for a huge touchdown pass. The arm strength was on display for the 6-foot-5 California native, but later in the first half, Murphy was picked off with the Longhorns up 17-0.
He followed that up with unsuccessful drives where the Longhorns couldn't get on the board, while the Wildcats slowly began creeping back.
Texas eventually went on to win 33-30 in overtime, but in the second half, Murphy was absolutely rattled. He had no poise in the pocket, his footwork appeared to be all over the place.
For Texas to reach its goal of winning the Big 12 and making the College Football Playoff, it seems that they will need Ewers to return sooner than later.
Maalik Murphy throws a pass against Kansas State
© Ricardo B. Brazziell, Austin American-Statesman
It's fantastic for Texas that they went 2-0 these past couple of weeks without Ewers, but there is reportedly optimism that Ewers could return as soon as next week for their game against TCU, which would be the best option.
Murphy is often trying to do too much when the best play would simply be to throw the ball away - which can be expected of a young QB.
"What he hopefully can understand is we're going to be an aggressive playcalling team, and he's going to have plenty of opportunities to make throws and do those things," Sarkisian said. "Sometimes, similar to last week, your best play is throwing it away and we haven't gotten to that point yet with him."
In his two starts, he has accumulated four turnovers with three interceptions and a fumble. Through the first six games combined, Ewers had just three interceptions showing an ability to protect the ball at a much higher clip.
If Ewers is unable to go, Sarkisian may need to adjust his game plan to better help Murphy in the second half.
Murphy is young and still has a bright future, but he still has a lot of growing to do under center, and that's fine.
But given where they are right now, Texas has no room for error down the stretch, and Murphy will have to make some major improvements if the Longhorns want to escape Fort Worth with a win.
