AUSTIN (KXAN) — For the Texas Longhorns to reach their goal of winning the Southeastern Conference championship this season, it’s not just quarterback Quinn Ewers who has to improve. It’s everybody. That’s football.
Texas’ inability to run the ball effectively against a swarming Georgia front seven forced Sarkisian to go to the air more than usual in the 30-15 loss, giving Jalon Walker and the rest of the Bulldogs pass rushers a green light to meet at No. 3. Georgia sacked Texas quarterbacks seven times in 49 dropbacks and Sarkisian took Ewers out of the game in the second quarter because he looked “uneasy.”
Some of the blame for the offensive struggles lies with Ewers, and some with the offensive line, and some with the running backs, receivers, and so on. Sarkisian said he and the coaching staff also shoulder some of the blame.
“Quinn can definitely play better,” Sarkisian said Monday. “We have to work on his pocket presence and make sure we capitalize on the premier looks when we get them. I also think we need to play better around him. It’s not about one player playing well, it’s about all 11. I don’t think we’ve been at our best from a totality standpoint. The game was a little out of whack, but we need to better around him.”
When Sarkisian went with backup Arch Manning to finish the first half, he said he “wanted to give (Ewers) a chance to step back and regroup.” He also reiterated that Ewers is the starter moving forward. Ewers played the entire second half and performed better than he did in the first half. Texas was able to pull within a possession of the Bulldogs in the second half, but the 23-0 Georgia lead at halftime ended up being too much to overcome.
“I appreciate the fact we have a backup like Arch who can come in and provide a spark. But at the end of the day, Quinn is our starter,” Sarkisian said after the game. “We have to do a better job around him and we have to coach better.”
Ewers didn’t participate in Monday’s player media availability but after the game, he said it “was a weird position to be in” when Arch went in.
“They told me they were going to give Arch a shot and give me some time to settle down,” Ewers said.
He said the oblique injury that kept him out of two games this season “is there a little bit,” but followed that with “that’s just how injuries go.”
Sarkisian said Monday that he doesn’t think the injury is impacting Ewers.
“I really think he’s healthy and feels good about it,” Sarkisian said. “Is he 100%? I don’t know. Is anybody on our team 100% going into Week 8? Probably not. Everybody’s got something right now.”
Ewers was sacked five times and fumbled after getting crushed by defensive back Daylen Everette on a blindside blitz. Sarkisian said that was a miscommunication at the line of scrimmage and Ewers thought he had protection there, but he didn’t and Everette had a clear shot on him.
“For all the Monday morning quarterbacks who said Quinn was late with the ball, that’s incorrect. He thought he was protected, and he wasn’t,” Sarkisian said.
Sarkisian offered more explanations of the hits Ewers took, ranging from poor blitz pickups and linemen losing their technique, but his point was that it’s not just one player’s fault.
“It’s a variety of things. It’s not just this one guy got his butt kicked,” Sarkisian said. “We dropped back 40-some-odd times, and when you play tackle, you may have 44 really good reps, but those two that you got beat on can rear their ugly head. That’s the life of being a tackle. That’s the life of being a defensive back. You can play great all day and give up one deep ball, and now you didn’t have a great game. We have to find a level of consistency and balance, and play as a cohesive unit, and that starts up front for us.”
