Game Week Thread 2024 Playoffs Round 1: Clemson at Texas

[satyanash 15364]

Sam Khan Jr.: Texas’ CFP run will go as long as the Quinn Ewers experience allows, for better or worse

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AUSTIN, Texas — Quinn Ewers is one of the most visible players in college football. He has starred in a national Dr Pepper commercial, appeared on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25 and racked up more name, image and likeness deals than can be counted on two hands. But there are still unknowns about Ewers, which is a feat when you’re the starting quarterback for multiple seasons at the University of Texas. That job, one Ewers long dreamed of, has its perks and its pressures, which he was quizzed about Monday afternoon, surrounded by more than a dozen reporters for an interview ahead of the Longhorns’ College Football Playoff first-round game against Clemson. “You only think about the good whenever you’re a kid,” he said. “That’s just life, though.”

The best parts, Ewers said, were getting to know people from all walks of life on his team and building lasting relationships. The worst? He chuckled and paused as he considered it. “Man, it’s all just been a learning experience and nothing’s really been super miserable for me,” he said. “It’s all been a good time.” The Longhorns’ quarterback situation remains a subject of fascination, even though there isn’t much mystery to it. Ewers is Texas’ quarterback, and a good one, but his career on the Forty Acres hasn’t gone according to script.

Despite his former five-star status and golden arm, he hasn’t turned into the perennial All-American or Heisman Trophy finalist some projected he would be. Whether he’s regarded highly enough to be a first-round NFL Draft pick next spring remains an open question, and he deflected inquiries on Monday about his future beyond this season. Observers and fans alike have, at times, clamored for his backup with the similar recruiting profile and the famous last name: Arch Manning. But no matter what he faced, Ewers proceeded undeterred. Whether he was rebounding from a tough midseason stretch in 2022, recovering from injuries that have interrupted each of his three seasons on campus or gathering himself after getting benched in the second quarter of the Longhorns’ Oct. 19 loss to Georgia, Texas has been able to count on Ewers getting back up.

The Longhorns have national championship aspirations, thanks to a roster as good as any in the country, one of the most stable coaching staffs in the field and a defense with a case to be called the nation’s best. That’s been good enough to get them here. But if Texas plans to hoist the trophy on Jan. 20, Ewers and the offense holds the key. “We’ve all got to take our game to another level, and he’s no different, right?” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “He’s got to do it.” Will he?

Texas fans pined for Ewers as a recruit out of in-state high school powerhouse Southlake Carroll. Ewers originally committed to the Longhorns but decommitted during the 2020 season, Tom Herman’s last as head coach, and flipped to Ohio State. Ewers reclassified to the Class of 2021 and joined the Buckeyes a year early, a move that allowed him to cash in because Texas state law prohibited high school athletes from profiting off their NIL. But his stay in Columbus lasted only four months, and he found his way back to Austin after Sarkisian’s 5-7 debut season, hailed as the quarterback who would lead Texas out of mediocrity.

Largely, Ewers has delivered on that expectation. Texas is 25-8 in games he has started, with a Big 12 championship, an SEC title game appearance and two consecutive Playoff appearances. Ewers was brilliant in the Longhorns’ 2023 road win at Alabama, a statement that the program had returned to serious contender status. His Week 2 performance at Michigan this year was similarly impressive. But the journey has been far from perfect. In a 20-19 home loss to Alabama in 2022, Ewers dazzled for a quarter but injured his clavicle after being driven into the turf and missed the next three games. In a 41-34 loss in windy conditions at Oklahoma State later that season, he had perhaps his worst performance as a Longhorn: three interceptions and a 19-for-49 passing effort.

“I still never forget sitting with him after we were at Stillwater and what that was like for him on the road,” Sarkisian said Monday. He didn’t complete 60 percent of his passes in any of the next three games, and some fans wondered whether a quarterback change was in order. Sarkisian stuck with Ewers.

The 2023 season brought increased scrutiny with the arrival of Manning. Sarkisian nipped that in the bud early, naming Ewers the starter in spring football. Ewers remade his body that offseason and had the best year of his career: a 69 percent completion rate, 3,479 passing yards, 8.8 yards per attempt, a 3.7 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a Big 12 championship. But it wasn’t without its difficulties. A shoulder injury knocked him out of two games, and he started slow in the Playoff semifinal against Washington, completing only half of his first 18 passes for 5.4 yards per attempt. Ewers turned it on in the fourth quarter, throwing for 216 yards and bringing Texas to within a play of the title game. Then he opted to return for one more year, citing the higher pro success rates for more experienced college quarterbacks.

The clean succession plan from Ewers to Manning would have to wait. With Ewers, four starting offensive linemen and a host of key defensive players returning, Texas entered this season as one of the top contenders for the SEC title and the Playoff. Texas dominated six overmatched opponents — including Michigan and Oklahoma — to vault to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll by midseason. But Ewers missed two of those games with a strained oblique suffered in a 56-7 win over UTSA. Manning dazzled in relief that night and started the next two in Ewers’ place, offering an enticing glimpse of Texas’ future. Then Georgia came to town and rocked Texas in a way nobody had. The Bulldogs’ fast, physical defense sacked Ewers five times. He completed just six of his first 12 passes for 17 yards and was briefly pulled for Manning, who didn’t fare much better in his lone series at the helm.

Sarkisian sent Ewers out to start the second half, and he found a groove and got Texas back in the game, pulling them from 23 points down to within a score before Georgia eventually put Texas away. But his second-half performance — 19 of 31, 194 yards, two touchdowns — won him even more respect from his teammates. “Adversity struck him right in the face,” Texas center Jake Majors said. “And he went back out on the field and drove us down the field. … It’s a testament to who he is as a person … because he was able to come out, deal with what he had to deal with and then it was just like nothing happened.”

Though Ewers hasn’t quite maintained peak form, he has played solid football since. But an ankle injury late in Texas’ Nov. 23 win over Kentucky has offered a new hurdle. Ewers played with a brace on it during the Longhorns’ win over Texas A&M and the SEC title loss to Georgia but didn’t require the brace in practice last week. “I’m good,” Ewers said of his health. In the SEC title, as Texas’ offense sputtered, some fans renewed their calls for the more mobile Manning. But Texas’ offensive failures had as much to do with Ewers’ supporting cast as the quarterback himself. Dropped passes — one of which resulted in an interception — and a nonexistent running game exacerbated red zone issues that have loomed for the Longhorns late this season. After being a top-10 red zone team at midseason, Texas has been one of the worst since mid-October, ranking 108th out of 134 teams while scoring touchdowns on just half of their trips inside the 20.

Sarkisian emphasized that everyone needs to step up, not just Ewers. But he believes in Ewers because of the quarterback’s body of work. “The way he’s responded throughout his career to injuries, to playing great, to having to find his way and fight through a game to … there’s been a lot of things in there to know this guy’s going to be ready to go and he’s going to find a way to put us in position to be successful,” Sarkisian said. Asked what stokes the team’s belief in Ewers, tight end Gunnar Helm had multiple answers to pick from: “The win on the road in Tuscaloosa. The win on the road in the Big House, the constant winning on the road in the SEC. It’s easy to trust Quinn as an offense.”

Ewers was predictably coy when pressed about his future, saying he is focused on winning games and hasn’t thought much about what’s beyond that. Asked whether he has thought about Saturday’s game being his last in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, he responded, “Maybe. We’ll see.” Currently, NFL scouts’ grades of Ewers for the 2025 NFL Draft range from the second round to the fourth round, according to The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. But with a thinner quarterback draft class, it won’t be a shock to see him go on the higher end of that spectrum should he turn pro. “With the playoffs and pre-draft process yet to go, Ewers will have every opportunity to help himself in the eyes of NFL teams,” Brugler said.

If things don’t go to plan and Ewers is projected on the low end of that range, could he return to school for one more year? It seems unlikely, especially with Manning waiting in the wings. Sarkisian said Monday he hasn’t discussed draft prospects with any of his eligible players, preferring to postpone those discussions until after the season. There has been no shortage of unsubstantiated speculation that Ewers could take a path similar to the one Dillon Gabriel did, returning for another year but transferring out. But those chances appear remote, with Orangebloods.com reporting last week that Ewers still plans to declare for the draft.

Whatever Ewers decides, expect it to be made with great care. “He doesn’t really care what anybody else outside our building thinks,” Helm said. That’s the way the Longhorns are operating heading into the Playoff. They’re good enough to win it all, and Sarkisian knows it. But only if they play at the level they’re capable of. Ewers embodies the resilience the Longhorns have shown when not at their best. And it’s that aspect of the team that gives Sarkisian the most comfort. Ewers said he’ll try not to build Saturday’s game up too much in his head. Whatever happens, he’ll keep responding the way he always has. “Stuff’s going to come your way,” he said. “You just gotta keep moving forward.”

 

[CycleTex87 3005]

He’s not wrong. For better or worse, we ride with QE this year. We can win it all. 

Edited 2 hours ago by CycleTex87

[Js1 86956]

That is some really hard hitting analysis there, Sam. Texas will go as far as QB1 allows.  

[kevwun 16303]

Next up, how scoring more points than your opponent is a key to victory.

Edited 2 hours ago by kevwun

[tbone_ 14413]

unpossible
jester east = 10 floors

Does west have 13 floors then? I could have sworn I was on the 13th floor. But there’s been a lot of water under the dam since then.

[Hagbard Celine 11162]

11 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Next up, how scoring more points than your opponent is a key to victory.

that was in the TOP SECRET section in the aggy PLAN 4 VIKTORY

they will be coming for you

7 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Does west have 13 floors then? I could have sworn I was on the 13th floor. But there’s been a lot of water under the dam since then.

14

[jimmyjazz 46986]

44 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Does west have 13 floors then? I could have sworn I was on the 13th floor. But there’s been a lot of water under the dam since then.

Yeah, East is 10, West is 14.

[MirrOlure 15196]

[Drew 2817]

1 hour ago, kevwun said:

Next up, how scoring more points than your opponent is a key to victory.

No no no...this is all wrong.

It's how not letting them score more than you is the key to victory.

[tbone_ 14413]