As Quinn Ewers continues to recover from his abdominal injury, Texas gave yet another start to quarterback Arch Manning and were once again rewarded with a W. But after an up-and-down performance against Louisiana-Monroe last week, he performed far better against the Mississippi State Bulldogs today.
In last week’s win over the Warhawks, Manning had almost as many passes hit the ground as his receivers’ hands, going 15 of 29 for 258 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions in a 51-3 win. But the Bulldogs gave Manning far less trouble today as he completed 26 of 31 passes – giving him a career-high 83.9-percent completion rate on the day – for 324 yards and two touchdowns, plus another 33 yards and a score on the ground.
Manning’s big performance lifted him to 10 passing touchdowns, an even 900 passing yards and three touchdowns on the ground with only two interceptions in the month of September.
The end result was a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs that will keep them in the top two in the next AP poll, but will probably see them cede their No. 1 ranking to the winner of the ongoing Georgia-Alabama game.
As for Ewers, he seems to be getting closer and closer to getting back onto the football field. The Longhorns have a bye next week before one of their biggest games of the year: The Red River Showdown against arch-rival Oklahoma.
If Ewers is fit to play against the Sooners on October 12, it will be interesting to see if head coach Steve Sarkisian pulls the plug on Arch Manning to give the job back to Ewers.
Related: Arch Manning’s Final Stat Line From Today’s Win Over UTSA Was Great