After the SEC Championship game, the Texas Longhorns fans were left with one question. Is time to move on from Quinn Ewers? On social media, the chatter is about Arch Manning being the future and that he should be the starting QB for Steve Sarkisian. Those calls got loud after the SEC Championship loss against the Bulldogs. The HC persisted with Ewers as the starter and the result was a 22-19 loss.

With an 11-2 record, Texas is still found a place in the College Football Playoff, but there is little evidence to suggest that they will have a prolonged stay there. Their performance in the defeat to Georgia was pretty much like how they have been playing in the last two months. They dominated large parts of the game but had little to show for it. Despite holding the Bulldogs to 277 yards, they couldn’t capitalize.

As for Ewers, he had 27 of 46 pass completions for 358 yards, one touchdown, and threw two costly interceptions while taking six sacks. Clearly, this is far from what the Longhorns will want from him once the playoffs start. Talking on the Unnecessary Roughness podcast, host Brandon laid it out flat and raw. “I feel the same way about Quinn Ewers as I feel about Texas football as a whole: something is missing,” he said.

Brandon didn’t hold back, calling out Ewers for being inconsistent: “He floats [footballs], indecisive, sometimes every now and then he’ll throw a laser and a rocket… and ohh wow!” But then the magic fades, and fans start wondering if they’ve been robbed. His co-host, Kayce, wasn’t any kinder. “He misses reads, struggles pre-snap, and can’t dissect a play while it’s happening. How many balls did he just soar? Wide open receivers, big plays, potential touchdowns. Gone.”

Let’s talk numbers—because they don’t lie, right? Texas racked up a whopping 250 yards in the first half against Georgia. That’s great until you realize they only had six points to show for it. SIX! No touchdowns, just a couple of field goals.

In Ewers’s defense, his problems could also be down to the injuries he has suffered. He missed two games earlier this year with an oblique injury and has been dealing with an ankle sprain late in the season. Still, if Texas harbors any hopes of going the distance in the playoffs, Ewers will have to come good come what may, since Sarkisian isn’t keen on dropping him in favor of Manning.

In the first half against Georgia, Ewers couldn’t get a touchdown on the board despite three first-half trips to the edge of the red zone. As the game went on, he struggled with speed and passing accuracy and was unable to process how to handle Georgia’s defense.  His second interception was just a flat-out poor throw into single coverage against minimal pressure.

This led college football analyst Dan Mullen to point out on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Monday, “Ewers makes some great plays. But when he doesn’t have time, he makes some casual, ill-advised throws. You saw those yesterday.”

On the other hand, there is Arch Manning who provided some spark when he came on against Georgia, offering more speed. In the game against Texas A&M as well, it was Manning who scored the game’s TD after replacing Ewers. However, Ewers soon returned to the field, like he did in the game against Georgia on Texas’ first snap of overtime.

But with Ewers at the helm, the Texas offense stalled in the red zone and settled for a field goal. The frustration with Ewers isn’t just about this one game. It’s a pattern, a vibe that’s been haunting Texas all season. With all that talent Ewers has around him, the Longhorns should be steamrolling their opponents, instead, they’re limping into the playoffs with more questions than answers.

Texas Longhorns’ defeat exposes underlying problems for Sarkisian

The SEC Championship game exposed not just Ewers but also his O-line and that off-beat backfield. If we being real, the O-line sold them their game. The Longhorns simply couldn’t run the ball.

After the game, Sarkisian pointed out the flaws that hurt them. “Late in the game, at the end of the ballgame, some of those throw-type situations… The overtime was kind of microcosm of the game. We couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. We had to settle for a field goal.” Steve Sarkisian stated. And then said the most ironic thing, “If we’re fortunate enough to see them again, we’re going to have to improve in that area,” as if he hasn’t already been thrashed 30-15 by Smart Kirby’s Bulldogs on Week 8.

Ewers also talked about how they failed to make the best of their dominance in the game. “We just didn’t capitalize. I think it was all on us. We had plenty of opportunities to go capitalize.”

The Longhorns had called for 11 penalties for over 90 yards, which literally gave away the game. And Steve Sarkisian got called out for his play-calls.

So, what’s the move, Longhorn Nation? The Longhorns are about to face Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers on 21 December at home. Sarkisian’s seat is already warm, and a playoff flop could turn up heat like Friday afternoon at a Texas ranch. Quinn Ewers has got one more shot at silencing naysayers and leading Texas to glory. But if he keeps missing throws and making costly mistakes, the Longhorns’ playoff dreams could vanish faster than a Texas summer storm. It’s make-or-break time for Ewers and Sarkisian.