The day we have all been waiting for is finally here. The Texas Longhorns have finally made it back to #1 in the AP Poll for College Football.
Texas continued their dominance on Saturday against the UTSA Roadrunners despite being without star QB and Heisman-favorite Quinn Ewers for more than half of the game.
Similar to the starts and experience that Maalik Murphy got during his time in Austin, redshirt freshman and fan favorite Arch Manning took over for Ewers in the second quarter. And, well, put on an absolute clinic.
Let’s dive into Saturday’s game and look toward the future for the nation’s #1 team.
Texas Throttles UTSA, 56-7
In Saturday’s interstate matchup between the UTSA Roadrunners from San Antonio and the Texas Longhorns, the game was never close. The storylines that looked appealing (Trey Moore vs his former team / Josh McCown’s son vs a dominate SEC team), were far overshadowed by the potent offense and defense of Texas.
Texas opened up a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to 2 TD passes from Ewers (1 to Isaiah Bond, 1 to Johntay Cook II).
Ewers Leaves Game W/ Injury
Early on in the second quarter, after handing the ball off to RB Quintrevion Wisner, Ewers went down and was seen in considerable pain/discomfort as he lay on the field at DKR.
Not a sight any Longhorn fan expected, or wanted to see.
What was initially dubbed a hand injury later changed to an ab injury, believed to have been suffered by Ewers on the below play:
Manning Dazzles
After Ewers’ injury, in came Arch Manning. One play later, a 19-yard TD pass from Manning to WR DeAndre Moore Jr.
Two Texas offensive plays later, the world saw something we never saw from Arch’s uncles (Peyton & Eli): SPEED. On a QB draw, Arch Manning took the ball 67 yards to the house, showing off the Manning speed that Peyton & Eli didn’t seem to inherit.
I mean, I’ve never seen a Manning move that fast. With his father Cooper being a highly-touted WR prospect in high school, it seems Arch has inherited all the athleticism, and speed, his father had.
Arch finished with 223 passing yards and 5 total TDs (4 passing, 1 rushing) while going 9/12 with a QBR of 99.9. That’s right, Arch threw the ball for 9 completions and 4 of them were TDs. In other words, 44% of his completions went for TDs. A small sample size, no doubt, but still an all-out dominant performance by the young QB.
Longhorn Defense Continues to Impress
Defensively, the Longhorns stifled any offensive attempt made by the Roadrunners. Outside of a 2-play TD drive by UTSA, Texas completely controlled the game.
UTSA punted the ball 8 times, turned it over on downs twice, missed a FG twice, and threw a pick-6 late in the 4th quarter.
UTSA QB Owen McCown completed 21 of 29 pass attempts, but only for 132 yards. That’s an average of 4.6 yards per completion.
True Freshman QB Owens / LB Sarkisian Make Appearances
With the Longhorns holding a 49-7 lead late in the game, Coach Sarkisian sent in true freshman third-string QB Trey Owens for his first collegiate game. Owens, a 4-star recruit from Texas out of the Class of 2024, went 2-4 with 19 passing yards.
Coach Sark’s son Brady, a Sophomore LB, also hit the field for a few plays. Here is what Coach Sark on what that was like:
Week 4 Preview vs. UL-Monroe
The Longhorns will finish their non-conference schedule this weekend with one more home test. Then they’ll enter SEC conference play for the first time in program history.
Making the trip to Austin are the undefeated Warhawks from the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
The Longhorns will be without QB Quinn Ewers, who is likely to miss the game with an abdominal strain. The good news is that Ewers’ injury isn’t as bad as initially feared and he is currently listed as “week-to-week.”
With Ewers out, Arch Manning has the perfect chance to continue to grow and become more experienced while Texas is still in the favorable part of their schedule. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arch starts next week as well at home against Mississippi State, who is currently 1-2.
Texas will have a bye week after that before they enter the most important 2-game stretch of their season, vs. Oklahoma and vs. Georgia. If Ewers is healthy, there is no doubt he should start, no matter how good Arch looks over the next few weeks.
Ewers is the clear-cut QB1 for the Longhorns and his experience will be invaluable as the Longhorns march deeper and deeper into their SEC schedule.
Texas opens up as -44.5 favorites against the Warhawks in Saturday’s matchup, according to FanDuel.
