DALLAS -- Kirby Smart didn't even remember his forearm shiver to Mississippi State's quarterback on the sideline last week. He was simply trying to get to an assistant, he said, and Michael Van Buren got in the way. Like receivers got in his way when he was a Bulldog safety back in the day, apparently. The Georgia coach apologized to Van Buren but still drew a reprimand from Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, who said it was his expectation "this conduct will not happen again."
Just the same, Quinn Ewers should keep his head on a swivel Saturday, on the field and off.
The good news for Ewers is he's used to looking over his shoulder. You never know what might be back there. An edge rusher. A backup quarterback.
A head coach.
And not his, either.
The better news for Ewers is that the hopes of top-ranked Texas holding on to its honorary title don't rest squarely on his shoulders Saturday when fifth-ranked Georgia visits Austin for the first time since we liked Ike.
The Longhorns' 34-3 beatdown of the Sooners at the State Fair taught us a couple of things: First, that Brent Venables should have tried a little harder to talk Dillon Gabriel out of leaving. And, second, that, halfway through its debut season in the SEC, Texas is a better team all around than we could have imagined going in.
Through six games, it's the first program in SEC history to score at least 250 points and allow fewer than 40.
What it means is that Ewers doesn't necessarily have to put up big-time numbers in order for the Longhorns to keep winning. He was 20 of 29 for 199 yards with a touchdown and an interception Saturday. Not bad, but not great, either.
Good enough, which isn't as bad as it sounds.
Granted, I wouldn't advise throwing a pick on his first attempt, like he did against OU. Texas had 13 yards of offense in the first quarter. Thirteen. Coming off a two-game layoff, Ewers looked rusty early. Also skittish. The interception came while throwing off his back foot under pressure, an old bugaboo.
On another Saturday, and maybe under another coach, Ewers' status might have been in jeopardy at some point in the first half before he finally figured it out. Because the Sooners' offense demonstrated little threat against Texas' defense, Steve Sarkisian could be patient with his occasionally embattled quarterback. And it paid off.
Ewers mostly played it safe, checking down and not forcing anything. According to ESPN Research, 18 of his 29 passes were within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Nothing wrong with that as long as everyone's doing his job. At least that's what Sark seems to think, anyway.
Seems to me that what he likes about Ewers is that he understands the benefits of small ball better than his heir apparent does.
Maybe the only criticism he made of Arch Manning's two starts was that the kid didn't always need to try to hit home runs. Not with the kind of defense the Longhorns play. Maybe not with the running game they're building, too.
In Texas' first three games, Quintrevion Wisner rushed for a total of 72 yards on 19 tries. He got 88 yards on 13 carries against Mississippi State, then turned 13 attempts against Oklahoma to 118 yards and a touchdown. Seems like a timely trend.
Say what you want about his offense, but Venables still knows a little defense. OU is giving up just 3.1 yards a carry even after Saturday's game. The numbers say the Sooners are better against the run than Georgia, which is yielding 3.7 per try.
Georgia's defense hasn't played as well as it has over the past few years, and even those defenses could only take away so much. A balanced offense is the answer, as Dak Prescott might tell you once he catches his breath.
Carson Beck has won two national titles and is generally considered a better pro prospect than Ewers, but he's been wildly inconsistent this season. The more he throws, the more he's exposed. All five of his interceptions have come in two games. On one hand, he passed for 439 yards against Alabama and almost single-handedly pushed the Bulldogs to the brink of a win.
On the other hand, his three interceptions put them in the hole in the first place.
Meanwhile, Ewers has yet to throw for more than 300 yards in any of his four starts, though he checked out of the UTSA game before the half. He's mostly managing games instead of highlighting them.
Now, I'm not saying he's a bus driver, because he's capable of more than that. He passed for 452 yards and four touchdowns against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game last year.
But, if you can run the ball and play good defense and still score 30-plus points, why lean on your quarterback?
Saturday's game, the latest between top-five teams, won't ruin anyone's playoff chances, but it'll tell us a lot about both. If we're lucky, maybe we'll even get something like Alabama-Georgia and Ohio State-Oregon. Games that came down to a final heartbeat. Even on a bad deadline, I'd like that. And if we can keep Kirby from mugging any Longhorns, so much the better.
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