Chris Low, ESPN Senior Author
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Quinn Ewers settled into the type of rhythm his Texas coaches and teammates are accustomed to Saturday night time in a hard-fought 27-24 win over Vanderbilt.
And he did so on the heels of considered one of Ewers’ extra forgettable weeks on the Forty Acres. Not solely did he get benched within the first half of Texas’ 30-15 house loss to Georgia, however a false report surfaced on social media that Ewers was opting out for the rest of the season and making ready for the NFL draft.
“If he performs like that for the remainder of the 12 months, we’ll be OK. We’ll be simply positive,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian stated of Ewers, who accomplished 17 straight passes at one level and completed with 228 passing yards, 3 touchdowns and a couple of interceptions.
Each of these interceptions got here on tipped passes, the primary one resulting in a Vanderbilt landing giving the Commodores a 7-0 lead within the first quarter.
However after that, Ewers led the Longhorns on three scoring drives, all ending in landing passes, the final two to DeAndre Moore Jr.
“It was regular for us. We had a extremely nice week of observe, so that is what I anticipated,” Moore stated.
So did Sarkisian, who stated Ewers’ resilience has been on show all season going again to him lacking elements of three video games with an indirect harm. The primary half final week in opposition to Georgia was a catastrophe for everyone on the Texas sideline. After the Bulldogs went up 20-0 within the first half, Sarkisian changed Ewers with Arch Manning, though Ewers returned within the second half.
“You’ll be able to’t worsen than the way it went for [Ewers] final week, particularly in that first half, after which his means to bounce again and present the resolve that he confirmed,” Sarkisian stated. “I all the time say that the signal of the true character of a person is within the face of adversity, and that was a whole lot of adversity for him, a whole lot of adversity for us as a crew coming off final week’s recreation.
“I feel the best way he responded was type of indicative of how we responded as a crew.”
Texas (7-1, 3-1) wasn’t in a position to put away No. 25 Vanderbilt till Moore recovered an onside kick with 44 seconds to play. The Commodores entered the competition ranked within the AP ballot for the primary time for the reason that finish of the 2013 season.
“These weeks should not simple if you get so emotionally invested right into a recreation such as you had been final week after which you do not play your greatest,” stated Sarkisian, whose Longhorns received their ninth straight street recreation going again to the 2022 season. “It is robust. It is robust on coaches. It is robust on a crew to rebound, and I take into consideration what number of occasions have we seen a crew lose a recreation like [Georgia] after which they get beat once more the subsequent week as a result of they’re nonetheless going via it.
“I believed this recreation tonight was a tradition win, a toughness win for us. … We knew it was going to take 60 minutes in opposition to this type of crew. That was a great soccer crew. They weren’t twenty fifth within the nation on accident.”
Despite the fact that it was technically a street recreation for Texas, the vast majority of FirstBank Stadium was decked out in burnt orange, because the Longhorns’ followers descended on Nashville for the primary assembly between the groups since 1928 and Texas’ first SEC street contest.
The begin to the sport wasn’t what Ewers or anyone on Texas’ crew wished. On the sport’s first possession, Ewers had a go batted by Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson and intercepted by cornerback Martel Hight on the Texas 31. 5 performs later, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia sprinted round proper finish for an 18-yard landing.
“There have been no ‘poor me’s happening,” Ewers stated. “We simply stored taking part in.”
Sarkisian is not certain that Ewers would have responded with such poise two years in the past after such a shaky begin.
“It is only a actual credit score to him, even coming off of final week’s recreation, the place when doubt creeps into your thoughts, that is a killer,” Sarkisian stated. “And I did not suppose there was a sliver of doubt in his thoughts. It was a foul luck [on the batted pass]. He made an ideal learn, the ball bought tipped and intercepted. He got here proper again out, believed in his preparation and the plan and actually executed at a really excessive degree.
“So I actually wish to credit score him and his maturity, his perception in himself, his confidence, and I wish to credit score his teammates as a result of I feel all week these guys had been ensuring they had been pumping him up and getting him able to go.”
Moore, who completed with six catches for 97 yards, stated his first landing catch got here when Ewers audibled whereas Moore was in movement.
“I am like, ‘OK, it is man [coverage]. Let’s go get it. He known as a slot fade and he put it up there and allowed me to go make a play,” stated Moore, including that is not the primary time Ewers has modified the play mid-motion.
“Yeah, he has the flexibility to try this, particularly on this offense. Quinn is the president, so if he sees a glance that he could not like, he can change it to one thing else identical to that.”
Ewers admitted he was “itching” to get again on the market in a recreation together with his teammates after the Georgia loss final week.
“I feel the credit score goes to all people not getting down after a loss that we had, and we got here out right here and we performed our model of soccer, particularly within the first half,” Ewers stated.
The Longhorns damage themselves with penalties within the second half, and a second batted interception led to the Commodores’ second landing within the second half to make it a 24-17 recreation.
“We did a great job of simply persevering with to play,” Ewers stated.
He additionally shook off the craziness of Monday when 247Sports stated its Instagram account was hacked with the fabricated report that Ewers was shutting it down for the remainder of the season at Texas coming off the Georgia loss.
“I imply, it was fairly random. I did not actually know the place they bought that from or whether or not they bought hacked or not. … It was positively bizarre, and there is not a lot else to say about it,” Ewers stated.
