Steve Sarkisian’s decision to replace Quinn Ewers with Arch Manning: big deal or not?

Steve Sarkisian‘s opening statement after Texas’ 30-15 loss to Georgia on Saturday night lasted about three minutes. He spoke about his pride in his Longhorns for fighting back in the second half and how Texas‘ goals are all still attainable. Sarkisian even said he hopes his team is fortunate enough to get “another crack” at Georgia, presumably in the SEC Championship Game.

Sarkisian, funny enough, didn’t bring up his quarterbacks

The upset of the evening was when Sarkisian’s availability was finally opened to questions, the first question wasn’t about his decision to replace starting quarterback Quinn Ewers with superstar backup Arch Manning. Don’t worry, it was the second question.

The reporter asked Sarkisian to take the world inside his decision to throw Manning into the game with 4:43 remaining in the first half and Texas trailing 20-0. The question also inquired about whether Ewers is still the starting quarterback or whether it would be an ongoing evaluation as the season progressed.

“My feeling in the game was I felt Quinn was a little uneasy,” Sarkisian responded. “I just felt giving him a chance to step back, regroup. I didn’t know if we’d get a series or two with Arch depending on how much time was remaining in the half on the clock. So we told Quinn, ‘Hey, we’re going to go with Arch here and give you a chance to get into the locker room. Let’s regroup and then come back out in the second half.’ So that’s what we did. I felt like it was effective. Quinn came out and played a much better second half and played well in the third quarter. 

“Quinn is our starting quarterback. I appreciate the fact we’re fortunate enough to have a backup like Arch, who can come into the game and provide a spark in some sense. At the end of the day, Quinn is our starter. We have to do a better job around him. I think he would tell you can play better. Everybody has to be better for our offensive football team to perform better.” 

OK, so is this a big deal? There are two schools of thought on this. Let’s break them down.

Point of view A: It’s Sarkisian’s job to win football games. This isn’t about drama or feelings or sensationalized stories. Texas was getting beaten pretty badly and Ewers looked off. Georgia’s defense was getting after the quarterback and the Longhorns needed a spark. Manning is more elusive than Ewers, so Sarkisian went to a different look to change things up. Manning had two possessions before halftime and didn’t provide that spark, Ewers came back into the game in the second half and played much better.

Point of view B: The move seemed desperate. This wasn’t like when Nick Saban put true freshman Tua Tagovailoa into the national title game at the end of the 2017 season. Texas wasn’t playing for its season and throwing Manning into the game provides all sorts of cloudiness at the quarterback position that could create drama/uncertainty about who is leading this team. Sarkisian steadfastly stood by Ewers as his starter through his injury this season and put on a MasterClass on how to squash controversy. Then with this move, he threw all of that out the window because putting Manning into the game makes you question who should be on the field in every game moving froward. It also could hurt Ewers’ confidence or cause the quarterback to press in situations later because he doesn’t want to be taken out.

You can decide which side you’re on.

But there is one thing for certain: this is not going to be the last time we discuss whether Manning should be on the field before, during or even after a Texas game this year. The Longhorns play in the SEC, still have a road game at Texas A&M at the end of the season and could be playing in the SEC title game and beyond. Texas is going to find itself down to someone at some and the question is going to linger: should Manning be in the game?

Even during Texas’ blowout of Oklahoma the previous Saturday—seven days before the Georgia game—plenty of fans felt Manning should have come in against the Sooners when Ewers started slowly. Some even believe Texas would have had a better chance to complete the comeback against Georgia had Manning stayed in through the remainder of the game.

Also, Ewers’ body language during his news conference after the game was standoffish. Maybe he was just a player who was sad his team lost a big game, but Texas, a team that’s still a legitimate national championship contender, probably doesn’t love seeing its starting quarterback shaken.

Just the notion Ewers had to come out of the game because he needed to settle down against Georgia doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Did he need that little break to recalibrate?

“It seemed like I did,” Ewers said after the game. “I came out in the second half and put a couple good drives together. It’s definitely a weird position to be in, for sure.”

Yes, it is.

Let’s see if things get weirder from here.

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