All signs point to Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers returning to face Oklahoma on Saturday in the annual Red River Rivalry game.
Ewers suffered an oblique injury against UT San Antonio on Sept. 14 and has missed the Longhorns’ last two games against Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State. Ewers has been practicing since last week ahead of Texas’ Week 6 bye.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters at his Monday news conference that he feels “good” about Ewers’ chances to return for Saturday’s game.
“Quinn worked last week for our three practices,” Sarkisian told reporters, per Lonestar Live. “He practiced again today. I thought he looked good coming off the bye. I think if anybody benefited from the time off, it was probably him.
“We’re going to monitor him daily, just to kind of see how he continues to progress. But I feel good about how he was today. I feel good about him going Saturday, but that remains to be seen.”
Arch Manning, a five-star prospect and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, has started in Ewers’ absence. He threw four touchdowns after replacing Ewers in Texas’ 56-7 win over UTSA and led the Longhorns to a 51-3 win over Louisiana-Monroe and a 35-13 victory over Mississippi State.
Manning struggled, relatively, with two interceptions while completing 15 of 29 passes against Louisiana-Monroe, but it didn’t matter much in the Longhorns’ 48-point win. He’s otherwise played well in Ewers’ absence, completing 70.5% of his passes for 11.6 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns and two interceptions this season.
A third-year starter for Texas, Ewers was a Heisman Trophy candidate prior to his injury, earning second-team All Big 12 honors in 2023. He completed 73.4% of his passes for 8.7 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns and two interceptions in two-plus games prior to his injury.
In the event that Ewers can’t go, Sarkisian expressed continued confidence in Manning in what would be the biggest test of his college career.
“I have no hesitation with Arch going in the game,” Sarkisian said. “I think he’s proven to us over 2 1/2 games of football that he’s really played in and competed in, that he can run our offense and he can be successful.”
Texas (5-0) enters Saturday’s game having reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the AP poll following Alabama’s stunning loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. Texas has now been ranked No. 1 in three of the seven AP polls this season.
Saturday will be the first time Texas and Oklahoma have played their rivalry game since the programs left the Big 12 for the SEC. Oklahoma enters Saturday ranked 18th in the AP poll following a 4-1 start.
The Sooners replaced sophomore starting quarterback Jackson Arnold with highly touted freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. during a Week 4 loss to Tennessee. Hawkins tallied 161 passing yards and 69 rushing yards with a rushing touchdown and no turnovers in last week’s 27-21 win over Auburn.
