The Texas Longhorns saw a lot more of quarterback Arch Manning than they expected coming into the Week 3 game against the UTSA Roadrunners.
With starting quarterback Quinn Ewers suffering an injury, Manning came into the game and helped the team improve to 3-0 with a 56-7 home win. Let's take a deeper dive into the game and discuss how Manning looked in his first extended playing time in college football.
How did Arch Manning perform against the UTSA Roadrunners?
Arch Manning entered the game in the second quarter and was able to perform brilliantly. He finished the game going 9-of-12 for 223 yards with four touchdown passes, as well as three rushing attempts for 53 yards (17.7 yards per carry) and a rushing touchdown.
This was an outstanding game where he had five touchdowns in total. It will be intriguing to see what coach Steve Sarkisian decides to do in the future at the quarterback position.
Can Arch Manning become the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns?
The Texas Longhorns have something that many teams would kill for: two quality quarterbacks on their roster that can play right now.
However, you can see the inexperience with Arch Manning. But the dominant play and roster/coaching staff behind him would be able to mask some of that.
The Quinn Ewers injury does not seem to be a long-term one as it is an ab injury that is listing him as 'week to week'.
While this will likely knock Ewers out of the 2024 Heisman Trophy contention due to him missing games, the Texas Longhorns are in good hands even if he is not fully healthy.
This is something that will help Arch Manning going into the 2025 college football season, when he is expected to be the starting quarterback for the Longhorns.
However, unless there is a Wally Pipp situation and Manning dominates again to a point where it is impossible to keep him out of the starting lineup, Quinn Ewers will be the starting quarterback. However, for that, he has to get back to full fitness first.
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