Arch Manning briefly takes over for Quinn Ewers in second quarter of No. 1 Texas’ loss to No. 5 Georgia

Arch Manning briefly replaced Quinn Ewers in the second quarter of No. 1 Texas’ 30-15 loss to No. 5 Georgia.

Ewers was benched with the Longhorns trailing 20-0. Texas had just 15 yards in five possessions with Ewers under center and he committed two turnovers with a fumble and an interception.

Ewers was playing his second game since returning to the lineup after an abdomen strain during the Longhorns’ Week 3 game against UTSA.

“I was just trying to settle Quinn down a little bit, try to give us a little bit of a spark,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told ESPN before halftime. “But we’ve got to get out of our own way. We’re not playing good as a unit right now — our defense is putting out some fires for us.”

Ewers returned to the game at the start of the third quarter with Texas trailing 23-0.

Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli, started to warm up after Ewers was sacked with 7:26 to go in the second quarter. Texas held Georgia to a field goal on its following drive, and Manning ended up taking the field for the Longhorns’ sixth possession. The possession ended in a punt and the only first down came when Mykal Williams was flagged for grabbing Manning’s face mask.

Manning’s second drive had a worse outcome. After running for a first down, Jalon Walker got his third sack of the night when he took down Manning. On the next play, Manning got stripped and Walker recovered the fumble with 25 seconds to go before halftime. Texas added a field goal after the fumble to take that 23-0 lead into the break.

Manning started two games in Ewers’ absence as Texas beat Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State. He had five TDs in relief of Ewers in the 56-7 win over UTSA.

Ewers was rusty to start Texas’ 34-3 win over Oklahoma a week ago, but he settled down and had two TDs as the Longhorns cruised over the final three quarters. Before Ewers came back into the lineup, coach Steve Sarkisian had been adamant that it was Ewers’ team and that he would regain his starting role when healthy.

Manning spent most of the 2023 season as Texas’ No. 3 QB behind Ewers and Maalik Murphy before he was elevated to the No. 2 role in 2024 when Ewers returned for his senior season and Murphy transferred to Duke. Manning was the No. 2 QB for two games when Ewers was sidelined with a shoulder injury and also served as the backup for the team’s College Football Playoff loss to Washington when Murphy had entered the transfer portal before the postseason.