Texas Football: 4 bold predictions for Longhorns in Big 12 play

Quinn Ewers throws for over 3,000 yards in conference play

During non-conference play, we witnessed many of the same ups and downs we saw from Ewers that he had last season. At times last season, Ewers was magical, showing the type of elite arm talent that made him the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the 2021 class (after reclassifying from 2022).

But Ewers also showed some shakiness during Big 12 play last season that ultimately resulted in Texas losses, such as the games against the Oklahoma State Cowboys and TCU Horned Frogs.

Early this season, Ewers showed he could be a Heisman-caliber performer when throwing for nearly 350 yards and three touchdowns, with no turnovers, in a road win over Alabama. He also executed at a high level in many areas of the game in Texas’ season-opening win over Rice on Sep. 2.

Ewers had a pedestrian outing in the Week 3 win over Wyoming, going just 11-of-21 passing for 131 passing yards, three total touchdowns, and no picks. That was the lowest total of passing yards in a start in Ewers’ career to date against Wyoming.

The non-conference slate saw the full variation of Ewers’ performances during his collegiate career so far. He played well on the biggest of stages in the regular season against a tough Alabama defense on the road. But he struggled to make tighter window throws and hit the deep ball in the two non-con games at home against Group of Five opponents (albeit good-looking ones).

Ewers must show more consistency and better timing with his wide receivers in Big 12 play for this team to live up to the conference title expectations the rest of the way. If he plays as he did against Alabama, Ewers will continue to garner Heisman hype and put up some massive numbers in conference play.