O’Gara: Some legacy-defining Red River redemption awaits a (hopefully) healthy Quinn Ewers
Published:
There are nightmare starts, and then there’s what Quinn Ewers endured in last year’s Red River Rivalry.
If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve thought that Ewers was a true freshman in his first career start, and not a second-year starter who owned the Red River Rivalry the previous season. A misread in coverage led to a brutal pick on the second play from scrimmage, and after Oklahoma capitalized on the short field, Ewers marched the Longhorns into the red zone … only to have a slightly overthrown ball to tight end TJ Sanders end up in the arms of the Oklahoma defense.
Five minutes of football, 2 interceptions.
It’s the type of start that can usually define a day. Ewers did just about everything in his power not to let that happen by throwing just 3 incompletions the rest of the game in what turned out to be a down-to-the-wire thriller. But those 2 picks and the fumble he lost on the first possession of the second half were the difference in Texas coming up short against Oklahoma.
A year later, Ewers is expected to return from an oblique injury that sidelined him since Week 3. It’s a personal grudge match for him against the Sooners in a more literal sense because of his 1-1 mark in the matchup.
But legacy-defining, Red River redemption is the only acceptable outcome for Ewers.
Be damned, 12-team Playoff grace. Ewers’ path to being remembered as one of those dudes goes straight through the Cotton Bowl. Is that a fair thing to say about a guy who led Texas to its best season in 14 years? Absolutely. Ewers earned that type of standard.
Some might argue it’s not fair to Vince Young or Colt McCoy to even suggest that Ewers could join their tier among Texas legends. But what’s not debatable is that any argument in favor of that possibility includes taking care of business in a game like this. Go ask Peyton Manning what it’s like to be historically successful but always be on the wrong end of jabs from a rival that had your number more times than not. It might not define a legacy, but it certainly pokes some holes in it.
For Ewers, the holes are a bit more straightforward. They’re topical, too. Staying healthy is the “yeah, but” of Ewers’ career. As in, “yeah, he put himself in position to be a Heisman Trophy favorite, but can he stay healthy for an entire season?” This marked the 3rd consecutive season that Ewers missed multiple starts due to injury.
Assuming that Ewers doesn’t suffer any setbacks this week, Saturday will mark his second time returning from a multi-game injury against Oklahoma. Of course, things are a bit different this time around compared to when he led Texas to a 49-0 beatdown on a Year 1 Brent Venables defense. This is easily the best OU defense that Ewers faced.
Here are the Sooners’ FBS defense ranks through Week 6:
- No. 4 in turnovers gained
- No. 5 in yards/carry allowed
- No. 5 in sacks/game
- No. 9 in tackles for loss/game
- No. 17 in opposing 3rd-down conversion percentage
- No. 17 in opposing 20-yard scrimmage plays
- No. 19 in scoring defense
- No. 23 in yards/play allowed
That’s not going to be easy to navigate, even with an extra week to prepare. Oklahoma had an extra week to prepare, too. Something tells me that Venables will do everything in his power to confuse looks, much like we saw on that opening drive interception last year.
For Ewers, this isn’t just about playing mistake-free football against a capable defense; this is about being the driving force behind Texas’ route to Atlanta. That’s not to say that he won’t have help from a Texas defense that’s been lights out, and Ewers has arguably the best offensive mind in the sport at his disposal. Even that thin Texas backfield has mostly looked the part in the early season playing behind that experienced offensive line.
But for Texas to get where it wants to go — win a national title and truly be back (not declare it after a 4-loss season) — Ewers has to be the guy who went up to Ann Arbor and carved up the defending champs. That was the same dude who went into Tuscaloosa last year and handed Nick Saban his most lopsided home loss in 17 years at Alabama. Ewers has had moments wherein he’s been every bit the No. 1 overall recruit/savior he was billed as.
And to be fair, yes, Ewers had moments when he looked like that guy in each of the past 2 years against Oklahoma. But in 2022, it was different for Ewers playing in a battle of unranked teams and when you turn the ball over 3 times in a game, that’s always going to overshadow brilliance when it results in a loss.
For Ewers and No. 1 Texas, which stands as the SEC’s last remaining unbeaten, the opportunity to stay in control of the path to Atlanta is monumental. The last time the Longhorns beat Oklahoma and won a conference title in the same year was 2009. It’s hard not to be optimistic about Texas’ chances of doing that this year.
As crazy as it sounds, Texas might be the only SEC team who could withstand an injury to its starting quarterback and still do that. Don’t get it twisted. Ewers still gives Texas a much better chance to win a conference title and earn a first-round bye than Arch Manning, as impressive as he’s been. Ewers’ experience is invaluable.
At this stage of his career, you’d expect anything but a nightmare start from Ewers on Saturday. In the likely event that this is his last time playing in the Red River Rivalry, Ewers will be attempting to get the last laugh with Oklahoma.
He knows as well as anyone that finishing with some Red River redemption won’t come easy.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
