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Why Steve Sarkisian benched Quinn Ewers to get him settled but hasn't done the same for Arch Manning

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook19 hours agojosephcook89
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Arch Manning (Jordan Prather-Imagn Images)

There’s a lasting image from Texas’ only regular season defeat from the 2024 season. Quinn Ewers was benched before halftime of the Longhorns’ loss to the Georgia Bulldogs and was replaced by Arch Manning for a brief spell. Neither fared all that well against Kirby Smart‘s defense.

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Ewers’ drive chart before the brief benching was punt, punt, sack-fumble, punt, interception, punt. With 1:48 left in the half, Steve Sarkisian put Manning under center. Manning was not any better, as his two drives ended in a punt and a sack-fumble recovered by Georgia that led to three Bulldog points at half.

“I felt Quinn was a little uneasy,” Sarkisian said in October 2024. “I felt like giving him a chance to step back and regroup. I didn’t know if we would get a series or two with Arch, depending on how much time was on the clock. So, we just told Quinn, ‘hey, we are going to go with Arch here and give you a chance to go into the locker room to regroup and come back out the second half.’ That’s what we did. I felt like it was effective.”

Ewers was put back in at quarterback after halftime and finished 25-for-43 for 211 yards and two touchdowns over one interception. The Longhorns scored 15 third-quarter points but were shut out in the fourth quarter, never making the margin closer than eight. Ewers remained Texas’ starter for the rest of the season, only swapping out with Manning for some short-yardage situations and in garbage time. Ewers had other rough games, namely the one versus Kentucky, but Sarkisian never tried to bring on Manning for “a chance to step back and regroup” in the rest of Texas’ 2024 run to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

On Monday, Sarkisian was asked why he hasn’t done the same with Manning. The Longhorns’ starter has four games with an under-60% completion percentage. Three have come during Texas’ road Power Conference games, including a 16-for-29 spell outing against Florida and a 12-for-27 day against Kentucky.

“I felt like his demeanor, in both games when I was talking to him, he was seeing things well,” Sarkisian said. “His communication was good with (A.J.) Milwee. What we were trying to do, I think there were some throws in there that gave me some ‘okay.’ The conversion to DeAndre (Moore) on third down was a heck of a throw. The ball to Emmett Mosley over the middle for an explosive play was a heck of a throw. There were plays in there where I’m like ‘we can find his rhythm back.'”

Sarkisian stuck with Manning even during a streak of 10 incompletions against UTEP. He stuck with Manning, and didn’t put in backup Matthew Caldwell, during a stretch where Manning was 1-for-7 in the second half at Kentucky.

“I didn’t feel like there was anything Saturday night that Arch wasn’t seeing,” Sarkisian said. “He was throwing the ball to the right people that were open. We just missed a couple. Sometimes, that’s human nature. We’re humans. We’re going to make some physical errors. He had a couple physical errors the other night.”

Sarkisian has said in the past his goal for quarterback completion percentage is 65% or higher. This year, Manning’s is 60.3%. Even when looking at Pro Football Focus’ adjusted completion percentage, defined as the percentage of aimed passes thrown on target (completions + drops/aimed), Manning sits at 69.8%. To compare, Manning was at 76.5% last year. Ewers was at 75.8%.

The top 10 in adjusted completion percentage among Power Conference quarterbacks with at least 125 dropbacks in 2025 per PFF are

  1. Julian Sayin, Ohio State – 85.5%
  2. Gunner Stockton, Georgia – 82.5%
  3. Haynes King, Georgia Tech – 81.0%
  4. Jalon Daniels, Kansas – 79.8%
  5. Behren Morton, Texas Tech – 79.7%
  6. Dante Moore, Oregon, 79.7%
  7. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana – 79.5%
  8. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt – 79.3%
  9. Ty Simpson, Alabama – 79.1%
  10. Carson Beck, Miami – 79.0%

Accuracy tells a significant story. Every opposing starting quarterback on Texas’ schedule save for UTEP’s Malachi Nelson is ahead of Manning in adjusted completion percentage.

For Sarkisian, he believes a benching won’t help Manning increase his accuracy. Manning is not Sam Darnold seeing ghosts against the New England Patriots. Manning is just not converting the opportunities he has a lengthy track record of nailing prior to this season.

“For a quarterback, when you get those opportunities, when you have — as I refer to them as — layups, I don’t think you need to overthink it. You just need to take the layup,” Sarkisian said. “That’s challenging when you feel like you’re working in a game, and he had to work Saturday night. When you get those, that’s not the time for the sigh of relief. That’s the time to make sure I drill this throw in there, let’s keep it moving, or let’s get this explosive play.”

Manning’s frustrated body language postgame and consistent repeating this year of “I’ve got to get better” stems from missing those layups. Texas needs Manning to improve there. Texas has to help Manning improve there.

Sarkisian believes that improvement comes from being on the field and not on the sidelines.

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