For the third straight game, BYU isn’t expected to face a team’s starting quarterback when the Cougars take on No. 7 Texas next Saturday in Austin.
Texas sophomore Quinn Ewers is “expected to miss time” with a grade 2 AC joint sprain in his right shoulder, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.
Ewers was hurt late in the third quarter when taking a sack during the Longhorns’ 31-24 win over Houston last Saturday. He was later seen in a sling on the Longhorns sideline.
Ewers has led Texas to a 6-1 record and a top 10 ranking this season while completing 70.9% of his passes and throwing for 1,915 yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions.
He’s also run for 53 yards and five touchdowns this season.
As a redshirt freshman last year, Ewers missed three games after stuffing a SC joint injury against Alabama.
Ewers’ injury isn’t expected to be season-ending, Thamel reported.
Redshirt freshman Maalik Murphy finished the game at quarterback for Texas.
Outside of a couple of kneel downs to end the game, Murphy led two drives in the fourth quarter.
The first led to a three-and-out, but the second resulted in the game-winning touchdown, when the Longhorns drove 53 yards for the go-ahead score, a 16-yard CJ Tucker run.
Murphy threw just two passes — completing one for 7 yards — in his brief appearance.
After redshirting last season, Murphy has largely played mop-up duty this year until Saturday’s game. He has completed 4 of 8 passes for 47 yards.
“I thought Maalik showed great poise and composure,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Saturday, per Thamel. “He’s got a lot of belief in himself and he understands our system.
“If it’s him this week, I know he’ll prepare really well and he’ll get the majority of those reps and I think he’ll play good football. And I think Arch (Manning) will be ready. ... We’ll have the utmost confidence in them to play good football.”
True freshman quarterback Arch Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, signed with Texas as the No. 1 prospect nationally in the 2023 recruiting class.
He has yet to throw a pass at the collegiate level.
BYU is familiar with facing backup quarterbacks this season.
Two weeks ago, BYU faced TCU redshirt freshman Josh Hoover after starter Chandler Morris was hurt the previous week. In his first career start, Hoover threw for 439 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in a 44-11 Horned Frogs victory.
In the Cougars’ most recent game, BYU faced Texas Tech true freshman Jake Strong, who started the year as the Red Raiders’ third-string quarterback but took over the starting mantle after injuries to Tyler Shough and Behren Morton.
Strong threw for 236 yards and a touchdown but three interceptions in his first career start, as BYU won 27-14.