WATCH: Casey Thompson takes over for Hudson Card, Texas touchdown on first drive
On the final drive of the third quarter, Texas’ Casey Thompson took over as quarterback for Hudson Card and delivered a touchdown on his first drive. Card was taken out of the game at quarterback following a sack-fumble he lost while trailing 26-7 against Arkansas.
Texas’ Casey Thompson takes over for Hudson Card
Card’s performance as quarterback for Texas was a struggle against Arkansas on Saturday. Before leaving the game, Card had completed 8 of 15 passes for only 61 yards and no touchdowns. Texas’ only score of the game before Thompson entered was on a touchdown run from running back Bijan Robinson.
The Longhorns’ struggles were beginning to raise a call from fans and former players alike, as former Texas linebacker Emmanuel Acho shared his own thoughts on social media during the game.
“Texas has to pull Hudson Card immediately. He’s young and has a bright future ahead of him. But that future ain’t today! Casey Thompson needs to be in by the next series!”
Thompson would enter the game with a little over a minute remaining in the third quarter and engineered an impressive drive for Texas that resulted in his rushing for a 5-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter.
Thompson’s drive went for 75 yards on ten plays, including a big third-down penalty by Arkansas for roughing the passer to extend the drive.
Texas quarterback controversy
Hudson Card was announced as the starting quarterback before the season started over Casey Thompson, after a quarterback battle that ran all offseason.
Thompson did play as well in their season opener against Louisiana, entering the game in the third quarter when Texas was leading 28-12. Thompson went 4-of-5 for 41 yards and a touchdown.
Sarkisian said his plan all along was to put Thompson in toward the end of the game.
“It wasn’t gut feeling,” Sarkisian said after the game on Saturday. “It was just kind of when was the right time to do it. Getting Casey in there around the middle of the third quarter and letting him play about a quarter-and-a-half of football. Hudson got two-and-a-half quarters. That’s big for us. Neither guy has a lot of experience. So for them to get that opportunity is gonna be big for us moving forward as a team. All in all, it was effective. Those two guys played pretty efficiently.”
At the time it was unknown if Thompson would be receiving any playing time against Arkansas, but he did so with a bang.
On3’s Tim Verghese contributed to this article.