Arch Manning's Heisman odds are disrespectful to Quinn Ewers

The big news coming out of last weekend's big 56-7 win for No. 2 Texas football over the UTSA Roadrunners at DKR was the injury that redshirt junior starting quarterback Quinn Ewers suffered in the first half of the game.

Texas football doesn't have a QB controversy, despite what the national media says

Ewers suffered an abdominal strain in the first half vs. UTSA, which turned over the reigns for the Texas offense to redshirt freshman quarterback Arch Manning. Arch was tremendous leading the Longhorns' offense for the rest of the game after Ewers' abdominal injury, throwing for over 200 yards, tallying five total touchdowns, and rushing for over 50 yards.

Outside of one semi-avoidable interception, Ewers was also really effective commanding the Texas offense against UTSA before he suffered the injury. Ewers completed 14-of-16 passing attempts vs. UTSA for 185 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and one interception.

Ewers' most recent injury status update still pegs him as "week-to-week" or "questionable" for the Longhorns' next two outings against ULM this weekend and for the SEC opener next week. Compared to how bad an oblique injury can be over the course of an entire season, this is pretty good news that the Longhorns can get Ewers back in a matter of weeks.

Despite Ewers having a rather short recovery timeline to come back from this abdominal strain in the next few weeks, the national media and Vegas have run with the storyline that Arch is the centerpiece of the team now.

Nothing better illustrates how quickly the national focus from the media and from Vegas alike shifted after Ewers' injury early in the second quarter of last week's matchup against UTSA than looking at the jump in the Heisman odds. Immediately following Ewers' injury and exit from the game last weekend against UTSA, Manning's odds to win the Heisman skyrocketed.

Manning was as high as 16-1 in the Heisman odds in some sportsbooks last weekend (including BetMGM) after the first half of Texas's win over UTSA.

FanDuel still shows Ewers being just at +800 better odds to win the Heisman ahead of Manning's odds this week.

What these oddsmakers and headlines are forgetting is that Manning wasn't the starting quarterback coming into the UTSA game, and he won't be once Quinn is healthy enough to return, likely at some point in the next few weeks based on head coach Steve Sarkisian's most recent injury updates.

Sarkisian and the Longhorns clearly know that this is still Quinn's team and that he is the set in stone starting quarterback once he's healthy enough to come back for live-game action this fall.

"I don’t pay any attention to it. We focus on what we do. I try my best and our team and our organization regardless of the topic to not get motivated by external factors or to ride the emotional roller coaster of ‘We’re the best team ever. He’s the best player ever, or the worst ever,’ because there’s generally very few times when you’re somewhere in between."

- Steve Sarkisian on Texas's QB room

What the national media doesn't talk about with the Ewers and Manning dynamic in Texas's quarterback room is how far Quinn has come in his developmental process and the success this team has seen in effect since last fall.

It wasn't Arch that led Texas to the program's first Big 12 Championship in over a decade and their first-ever appearance in the four-team College Football Playoff last season. Quinn was also the quarterback that led the Longhorns to their biggest non-conference win of the season this year, with a spectacular performance in a bright spotlight on the road to defeat the defending National Champion Michigan Wolverines at the Big House in Week 2.

Ewers has gone from being a talented but inconsistent decision-maker in the pocket for the Longhorns at quarterback a couple of years ago to one of the most calm and composed field generals in the entire country at the position.

It's no coincidence that Ewers has posted a career-high 175.2 passer efficiency rating and 73.4 completion percentage this season, after he registered career-best numbers last year in most significant passing categories for quarterbacks.

Ewers' understanding and command of this Texas offense in his third year as the starting quarterback in Sarkisian's system and playbook gives him the ability to go through reads and make on-time throws that would be unrealistic to expect a second-year freshman like Arch to reliably and consistently pull off.

This is no shade to Arch, since he is very talented in his own right. There are aspects to Arch's game that does give him a leg up on Ewers, mainly with his mobility.

But the fact of the matter that next season will be Arch's time to take the reigns as Texas's starting quarterback and to lead this offense with his arm talent and dual-threat capability.

Even former Heisman-winning Florida quarterback Tim Tebow recognizes that there won't be a controversy in the Texas quarterback room anytime soon between Manning and Ewers.

"I think Quinn Ewers is one of the best players in the country. I think he has the legit shot for the Heisman, Texas has a legit shot to be a playoff contender, if not a championship winner. Do they have the best quarterback room in the country? Probably with both of them. Could Arch be an elite quarterback right now? Yes, probably. But I don’t think that you have a controversy."

- Tim Tebow

The most important thing for the Longhorns to do is to continue to keep their focus and mindset in the right place. Texas has done a tremendous job of being prepared for each opponent game in and game out and coming into each week with a businesslike mentality on both sides of the ball.

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